The space race intensifies Beijing accelerates launches, and Washington moves towards militarizing the moon

U.S. Air Force Secretary Troy Menke's admission that the United States possesses weapons in space has stirred up stagnant waters surrounding the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which established the principle of the peaceful use of space and restricted the deployment of weapons of mass destruction in orbit.

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The Chinese press quickly picked up on this announcement, reading it from angles that went beyond the direct military dimension to what it entailed in terms of a shift in the rules of competition between the great powers, and the possibility of undermining the fragile balance that had governed space management for decades.

Outer space is no longer a scientific space isolated from economics, politics, and security. Rather, it has become a vital infrastructure for the digital economy, a platform for technological and military superiority, and a difficult test of the international system’s ability to control dual-use technologies.

While Chinese companies are racing to reduce the cost of accessing Earth orbit by developing rocket recovery and reuse, there are growing signs that security competition is shifting from Earth orbit to near-lunar space, in a trajectory that threatens to gradually redefine space as a battleground that was once a common domain for humanity.

The international legal regime for space is based on the principle that its exploration and use should be for peaceful purposes, and that celestial bodies, especially the moon, should remain outside the logic of military sovereignty and war.

The Outer Space Treaty reflects this principle by prohibiting the placement of nuclear weapons in orbit, emphasizing the peaceful use of the Moon and celestial bodies, and holding states responsible for damages caused by their space assets.

According to what the newspaper quoted from the Associated Press, General Dan Keane Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, called on US forces to be prepared to fight, endure and triumph "from the bottom of the sea to lunar space."

In the industrial sector, China’s experience with reusable rockets reveals that reusability is no longer just a symbolic engineering achievement, but has become a crucial economic and technological standard in the launch industry.