Opinion | Climate change, nuclear catastrophe, out-of-control AI: how US-China tech rivalry puts humanity at risk

In June, a new team of Chinese astronauts arrived at China’s space station, Tiangong, for the final phase of its construction. Meanwhile, the US-led International Space Station is expected to cease operations by the end of 2030, and Nasa has yet to announce a replacement plan.

A recent study published by the Belfer Centre for Science and International Affairs at the Harvard Kennedy School forecasts that China will overtake the United States in core 21st-century technologies within the next decade. Nicolas Chaillan, a former chief software officer at the Pentagon, has claimed that China has already won the race to dominate cyberspace.

More than half a century ago, the “Sputnik moment” stirred a similar US crisis of confidence and fear of losing ground. The US buckled down and subsequently eclipsed the Soviet Union. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the former adversaries came together to collaborate, including on joint missions to the International Space Station. Russia has said it will end cooperation on the space station in reaction to its being sanctioned for its invasion of Ukraine, though, and the US and Russia are once again locked in hostility.

However, the ongoing US-China rivalry is a more extensive, consequential affair. In addition to launching competing lunar and Mars missions, US and Chinese telescopes are peering deep into space in search of extraterrestrial intelligence.

But the US-China space race is also shifting into an arms race, with each accusing the other of weaponising space. The formation of the US Space Force in 2019 under the Trump administration is a game-changing development with far-reaching military and national security ramifications.