Dragons in Orbit: China's Space Program Merits Greater Attentin

摘要

The People's Republic of China (PRC) is one of a handful of players in the space arena that possesses the combination of high-level political interest, financial wherewithal and technical capability to constitute a space power that is capable of undertaking space operations on its own terms. In terms of political support, beginning with Mao Zedong, Chinese leadership has consistently devoted resources towards establishing an independent space capability. China's space program began in 1956, in the midst of the U.S.-Soviet space race. Mao and other senior Chinese leaders committed the PRC to developing "two bombs, one satellite." Internal political upheavals such as the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) disrupted space efforts for a time, but paramount leader Deng Xi-aoping's reforms made space once again a national priority, a stance subsequently supported by both Presidents Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao.