US-China rivalry is extending from Earth into area. That poses a problem to American dominance
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Posted On June 21, 2021
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In the case of the intensifying rivalry between the US and China, the sky is on no account the restrict.
As the 2 nations jockey for financial, technological, geopolitical and even ideological superiority on Earth, area has change into a pure extension — and essential frontier — of their nice energy competitors.
And as a result of inherent dual-use nature of area applied sciences, what’s at stake extends far past mere scientific status and world standing. Along with nationwide protection, a lot of our life on Earth — from digital communications to navigation — will depend on satellites in area.
That concern has solely deepened with a collection of essential and excessive profile Chinese language achievements: In 2019, it turned the primary nation to land on the far facet of the moon; final 12 months, it efficiently put into orbit its closing Beidou satellite tv for pc, setting the stage to problem the US International Positioning System (GPS); and final month, it turned the one nation after the US to place a functioning rover on Mars.
Regardless of its developments, China’s area know-how nonetheless lags behind the US. However China’s area program is flush with political and financial help from the ruling Communist Occasion, which views its success as a key measure of its intentional standing and home legitimacy.
Final week, US-China competitors in area entered a brand new section when three Chinese language astronauts arrived on the nation’s still-under-construction area station for a three-month keep. The one different area station in orbit is the Worldwide Area Station (ISS), a US-led collaboration with Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada.
Whereas the ISS was primarily a US-Russian enterprise born out of the ashes of the Chilly Warfare, China’s Tiangong is being constructed amid talks of a brand new Chilly Warfare. And it’s possible that within the years to come back, alliances in area will more and more mirror the geopolitical strains on Earth.
Neither China nor Russia is a signatory.
Picture of the Day
Reliving ‘crimson’ reminiscences: A bunch of holiday makers put on Chinese language Purple Military uniforms whereas visiting China’s revolutionary museum within the metropolis of Hong’an on Sunday. Hong’an, a former revolutionary base of the ruling Communist Occasion, is among the so-called “crimson websites” which have surged in reputation within the lead-up to the Occasion’s centenary on July 1.
Australia takes its wine spat with China to the World Commerce Group
Australia is taking its commerce battle with China up a notch.
The nation this weekend mentioned it’s lodging a grievance with the World Commerce Group over Beijing’s resolution to slap huge duties on Australian wine.
Whereas Australia’s commerce and agriculture ministers mentioned the nation “stays open to partaking straight with China to resolve this challenge,” they added in a Saturday assertion that the federal government would “proceed to vigorously defend the pursuits of Australian wine makers.”
China’s Ministry of Overseas Affairs didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
It is not likely clear that the grievance will get Australia what it needs. Such disputes can take months to resolve, and prior WTO rulings have usually been troublesome, if not unimaginable, to implement.
In December, Australia requested the WTO to evaluate China’s tariffs on Australian barley, which remains to be below evaluate.
However the wine duties — which vary from 116% to 218% — are clearly inflicting huge ache for the nation’s winemakers. China is their prime export market, and a few winemakers have already bemoaned to CNN Enterprise the tons of of hundreds of bottles left piled up on pallets of their warehouses.
“It is hurting us dramatically,” South Australian winemaker Jarrad White informed CNN Enterprise earlier this 12 months, earlier than the duties turned everlasting. “We had lots of provides that wanted to be paid for and all these orders that had been deliberate to shift, so it is left us in an ungainly state of affairs.”
Wine includes only a tiny fraction of what Australia trades with China. The trade accounted for lower than 1% of the full worth of Australia’s exports to China in 2019, in response to the Observatory of Financial Complexity.
However as tensions between the 2 nations stay excessive, the plight of winemakers in Australia has come to represent the collateral harm from the escalating commerce dispute.
–By Jill Disis
Round Asia
- A coach in Uganda’s Olympic workforce examined optimistic for Covid-19 upon arrival in Tokyo on Saturday night time, in response to Japanese officers.
- America has shipped 2.5 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Taiwan, greater than tripling its authentic pledge because the island battles a spiralling outbreak and resists strain from Beijing to take China’s homegrown inoculations.
- In the meantime in China, greater than 1 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine had been given as of Saturday, an astonishing milestone that comes because the nation rolls out an unequalled inoculation drive.
Hong Kong is looking for ‘larger integration’ with mainland China, however at what price?
On Sunday in Beijing, Hong Kong’s chief government Carrie Lam mentioned she needed to construct on town’s repute as a world monetary hub by way of larger integration with mainland China, thanking the Chinese language authorities for serving to to revive “stability” in Hong Kong.
However many query whether or not that so-called stability has come at too nice a value.
