China’s space industry is becoming an increasingly important means of extending soft power throughout the developing world. Like the ostensible civilizing missions of 19th century colonial powers over the savage, China’s push to link countries in Africa and South America to the digital age will consolidate its political influence and access to natural resources and markets in the developing world.

Satellite telecommunications is the cornerstone of China’s broad ambitions in building Africa. The Chinese Academy of Science and the Great Wall Industry Corporation built and launched for Nigeria the Nigcomsat-1, the first transcontinental communications satellite under the control of a sub-Saharan nation. The $450 million USD satellite was financed by the Nigerian government with $250 million USD investment from the Sudanese Elrased Electronic Trading and Investment Company Ltd. Prior to this, the Chinese government had pledged $66 million USD to develop Ghana’s telecommunications infrastructure.

In addition, China and Brazil freely provide African countries satellite images through the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program (CBERS). As leading regional trading partners, China and Brazil have sought to strengthen ties through space activities. CBERS is a successful long term cooperative program between the Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST) and the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE). Along with the US Landsat, French Spot, and Indian Resource Sat, it is one of the major satellite systems specialized to monitor the Earth’s environment, resources, forests, geology and hydrology. The China (%70 investment) and Brazil (%30 investment) treaty signed in 1988 has so far resulted in the launch of three satellites: CBERS-1 (Oct.1999), CBERS-2 (March 2002) and CBERS-2B (Sept. 2007) with two more satellites projected in 2010 and 2013. China reinvests the amount received from Brazil through the importation of Brazilian products. China and Venezuela will also soon launch a military and telecommunications satellite, dubbed after the revolutionary Simon Bolivar. In addition, China will train 90 Venezuelan technicians, 30 of whom will study in China. This follows Venezuela’s purchase of three Chinese military radars. On November 6th, 2007, China Development Bank signed an agreement with the Venezuelan government to create a USD 6 billion investment fund, 4 billion of which China will provide. In response, President Hugo Chavez has pledged to double oil exports to China, reaching 1 million barrels per day by 2010.

Capping these activities, China also hosts the Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO), a coalition of eight countries (Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, Thailand and China) to jointly develop space science, technology, and industry, especially in Earth observation, disaster prevention, environmental protection, and satellite navigation and communication.

China is strategically positioning itself at the center of satellite, telecommunications, and networking activities in the developing world, especially Africa and South America. The applications are far ranging from development of commerce, agriculture, and city planning to global monitoring of the environment and early warning of natural disasters. This will give China a global presence in the space industry across these regions. The most obvious and immediate benefits to China are access to natural resources and markets as well as political support of China’s policies toward Taiwan and Tibet. However, the long term effects are more subtle and pervasive.

Since the post-WWII time of Jay Forrester and the Club of Rome till now, the United States has been the dominant force in the development and maintenance of global models and data networks. These have fundamentally changed how people view the world and the meanings of globalization itself, pertaining to everything from changes in the environment, population, energy, agriculture and trade. In the coming two decades, China is the only other power with the reach, resources, and clear intent to rival the US in this often overlooked arena. The breakdown of the Galileo navigation system proves that the cosmopolitan vision (ala Ulrich Beck) of an EU balance to American hyper-power is untenable, at least in space. How long will it be before China extends its Beidou Satellite Navigation program from an Asia-Pacific regional system to one covering a patchwork of other critical areas through export and cooperative agreements with countries in South America, Africa, and the Middle East? A manned mission to the moon may capture the media’s attention but would have little significance to research, economic development and political power on Earth. On the other hand, China’s diplomatic and technological mission to bridge the digital divide in the developing world will give it a long lever from which to influence global environmental politics and other issues.

For information on the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program

www.cbers.inpe.br/en/index_en.htm

The China-Africa Cooperation Forum

www.china.org.cn/english/features/China-Africa/81869.htm

Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) link to Asia-Pacific Space Education Center

http://apsec.buaa.edu.cn/

Other interesting reading: Paul N. Edwards, “The World in a Machine: Origins and Impacts of Early Computerized Global Systems Models,” in Systems, Experts and Computers, Agatha Hughes and Thomas P. Hughes editors. 2000 The MIT Press.