The aspirations of China’s space program is important because it reflects on their status as a global power. They hope to catapult or raise their international stature by expanding and dominating the future of space exploration. Although China is trailing behind the USA and Russia in space exploration their space program is in 3rd place with many European countries. However, China's program is gaining momentum, and as they are moving away from their European counterparts, they are hot on the heels of the two major global powerhouses. China has the resources and motivation to rival and eventually equal Russia and the USA. Space is an infinite amount of everlasting matter, unknown to humans, which is waiting to be explored. This relates to the Daoist concept of Unmanifest Dao. Similar to outer-space, the Unmanifest Dao is the Dao that we can't see, hear, or comprehend. China wishes to explore regions of space such as, the Dark Side of the Moon and Mars. The dark side of the moon is a an area of the moon where no country has traveled before. This relates to the theme of Imperialism, which means the extension of power of a region, like the moon, by direct territorial acquisition. China has an Imperialistic mindset, and claiming the Dark Side of the Moon and Mars would feed their desire for territorial acquisition. The Communist party of China, the major government party in China, is the financial backbone of all of the space endeavors. China is mainly a communist country. Communism is a system of government where all power is controlled by one main government power that controls everything. The CPC was founded by Mao Zedong, who was a passionate believer that China's space program played a huge role in global competition of power.
Can the Chinese space program possibly complete with the global superpowers like Russia and the United States?
A main goal of China is to have a strong, successful space program to help increase their global respectability. Since the cold war, there has been a two-way space race between USA, and Russia, but recently China has made a forceful bid to compete and possibly overtake these countries. Each country is "competing" over who can successfully launch and maintain a spacecraft through the course of its mission. For instance; in 2016, the USA conducted 22 successful launches, China completed 21, and Russia launched 16. This year, in 2017 China is expected to launch 30 successful rockets, which would be a Chinese record and a possible sign of a new era of space exploration in the world, favoring China. Over the course of the next five years, China's future is looking as bright as the sun. One example of a past endeavor that was successful was, on August 16, 2016, China launched the first Quantum Communications satellite, a new source of radio transmission that instead of radio waves, beams out light particles, making the system secure and resistant to hacking. This technological advance boosted China's space status, due to the fact that other countries have yet to grasp this concept of light particle communication. In the near future, Chinese scientists are working on the project and wish to launch more Quantum Communication satellites across the world to revolutionize communication. As well as the launches of quantum communication satellites, there are many other highly anticipated launches upcoming in China's space program. Other future Chinese projects in 2018 include landing on the dark side of the moon. Also, In 2020, they want to have a Rover land on Mars, a feat only accomplished by America. Also, in 2030, China wishes to have men on the Moon and possibly Mars.
Why does China want to explore unknown extraterrestrial locations, such as the dark side of the moon?
The Dark side of the Moon is a place no country has ever been before, a new frontier of space waiting to be exposed. If China were to land a spacecraft on the dark side of the Moon, instantly they would become one of the, if not the biggest space program in the world. It is a feat that has never been attempted before. It would demonstrate that their technology and sciences are definitely superior. The results of this feat are they would also receive power from their government's. They would be looked at as a respectable threat, and possibly put in comparison with feats of Russia and the USA. China’s historical desire for imperialism would once again be realized. They could claim the dark side of the moon, and with the newfound respect and superiority, China’s position on the world stage would increase which would help them with more local issues. China might be able to fix border problems on the South China Sea, due to their increase in respect. The dark side of the Moon would also serve as an extension of China, as they would own it.
How does the Government of the USA compare to the Chinese government in space budget and interest?
In 2016, the Chinese and US governments put in large sums of money towards the space programs. The US spent 11 trillion dollars and China spent about 5 trillion dollars. The CPC (communist party of china) largely funds the space exploration. The CPC was founded by a man named Mao Zedong. He was a very strong believer in the fact that space exploration leads to international respect and power. In 1959, Mao Zedong wished to release a satellite in retaliation to America successfully launching one, yet China didn’t have the proper technology. The satellite was finished in 1970 and sent into space the same year. When in orbit, a few lines of the song “East is Red” played, across China symbolizing that Mao Zedong and China had successfully began the exploration of space. They believed that Space technology is a great way to gain power from many nations through respect. Also since China is a communist country, all of the people in China would consider it a great achievement due to their ideology. Although a ton of money is put into the Space program, there are still many pessimistic citizens. Some people in China believe that China is only following the US, and not trying to pave their own path. Also, they believe that they only fund the space projects because it positively increases their international status. As a result of all of the outside pessimism, most of the space projects are secretive until launch. It also helps prevent outside conflict from other countries.
To sum it all up, in China, space exploration plays a huge role in how the country is viewed. If a mission is successful, it’s not just the people involved in the space mission that achieved their goal, it is the whole country who succeeds. It is the whole country who takes pride in the accomplishment. It is the whole country that wins.