Internal Link- Ruling Party Legitimacy

Internal Link- Ruling Party Legitimacy

China’s space program has far-reaching impacts across the nation. From helping the Chinese Communist Party garner prestige and legitimacy, serving as a beacon for attracting and inspiring the next generation of space scientists and engineers, to having numerous positive civilian applications, the space program indeed is living up to its role as “an integral part of the state’s comprehensive development strategy”.163 Speaking at Harvard’s Fairbank Center China Current Events Workshop in November 2005, Johnson- Freese noted: The Chinese government...[is] banking on the effort generating a burst of economic development from spin-off technologies. The program itself is an employment program as well as a space program, providing work and training for thousands in the Chinese technology sector.164

Indeed, China has been successfully marketing its space program for domestic consumption and is reaping its rewards. China, however, also realizes that a successful space program can also bring potential rewards beyond its borders. Thus, the next chapter shifts focus to the international dimension of the Chinese space program and how China is maximizing its rising clout in space to have a global impact as it interacts with other nations.
CCP politics link

Chambers 09 (Rob, Naval Postgraduate school, revised by Moltz, Dr. James Clay, Naval Postgraduate School, “China’s Space Prgoram: A New Tool For PRC “Soft Power” In International Relations?” http://edocs.nps.edu/npspubs/scholarly/theses/2009/Mar/09Mar_Chambers.pdf)

There are a variety of reasons behind Chinese motivations for manned spaceflight, and one of them has a domestic political spin: the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Dean Cheng comments, “Just because there aren’t elections, doesn’t mean that there are no means for the population to express its displeasure”.72 As Peter Aldhous notes: Its [the Chinese space program] value in promoting a domestic feel-good factor should not be underestimated. Even China’s authoritarian rulers have to worry about keeping the country’s billion-strong population reasonably happy. A successful space program could paper over the cracks for a while. 73

Noting China’s semi-obsessive behavior with its national image and prestige, as well as the CCP’s determination to retain absolute control of the country, William Martel and Toshi Yoshihara echo the conventional wisdom:

Success in China’s manned space program will confer a strong sense of national dignity and international status on the country, which are viewed as crucial elements to sustain the legitimacy of the Communist Party and replace its declining ideological appeal. This intangible yet powerful expression of Chinese nationalism partially explains why Beijing invests substantial resources into its space program.74

Morris Jones, an Australian-based space analyst says, “China’s space program reflects the power and legitimacy of the Communist Party. They are using manned space exploration as a political demonstration of their legitimacy”.75 Jones also notes that the launch date of the Shenzhou-7 came on the heels of not only the Beijing Olympics, but also close to the conclusion of the Paralympics and Chinese National Day on October 1, “making the space mission a nice bridge between two major nationalistic events”.76

“National pride will increase,” Xu said. “It’s a selling point used by leading scientists.”  As part of the effort to expand public awareness of and excitement about the space program, the government broke ground in December for a 3,000-acre space-launch center and theme park on the southern island of Hainan, modeled after the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

When the center opens in 2014, the public will be able to watch rocket launches there from an elevated platform. The adjacent Hainan Space Park, meanwhile, will be divided into four sections, replicating the moon, the sun, Mars and Earth. “We want to combine tourism with education,” said Liu Xianbo, an official with China Aerospace International Holdings, which is building the theme park.
China wants space dominance for legitimacy purposes

Johnson-Freese 7 (Joan, Professor at the USA Naval War College, specialty in space programs and space security, “China’s Space Ambitions,” Instiut Francais des Relations Internationales)

Finally, it must also be mentioned that China has long coveted participation on the International Space Station (ISS) program. ISS represents a partnership among the "family of spacefaring nations" to which China dearly seeks acceptance. That status would confer Western legitimacy on the Chinese space program, and by association the Chinese Communist Party which runs the country and backed the program. The United States has long balked at including China in ISS. For many years the excuse was that China had neither the money nor the technology to be a partner. With the inclusion of Brazil in the ISS partnership, a country with far less money and technology than China, it became clear that politics was the real reason for keeping China at bay. The feelings of U.S. government officials such as California Congressman Dana Rohrabacher exemplify the issue. In 2001, for example, Rohrabacher acknowledged that China might have the resources to contribute to the station, but ruled out inclusion due to China's human rights record, saying: "The space station's supposed to stand for something better." More recently, China's January 2007 ASAT test will likely preclude any consideration that might have been percolating for altering the U.S. stance.

In the emerging post­Cold War space environment, Asian countries—among them China, India, and Japan—have played an increasingly prominent role. The motives of these countries to date have been different from than those of the superpowers, putting a greater emphasis on domestic economic goals, regional competition, and international prestige, as compared to more limited geo­strategic military aims. China’s 2006 White Paper on space listed the goal to “build up the comprehensive national strength” as one of the country’s core rationales for space activity. Thus, while China has significant military aims in space, it also has important civil space purposes that are often underappreciated. Given the waning relevance of Communist Party doctrine to Chinese reality, the government is using civil space activities to promote its legitimacy in the eyes of its people.