Internal Link- International Prestige

Internal Link- International Prestige

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.
Space program key to diplomatic power and nationalism

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)

David Chandler echoes similar sentiments in his analysis: The Chinese government expects its manned space program to enhance the reputation of China’s high-tech exports, giving it greater diplomatic and commercial power. It also sees space technology as critical to achieving technological parity with western nations and Japan. Specifically, it hopes the manned space programme will raise standards in computing, materials science, manufacturing and electronics.78

With the tumultuous events of the Sichuan earthquake, inflation at decades-high levels, a stock market that was at a 21-month low, and seemingly incessant protests over government corruption and social injustice, Willy Lam, a Hong Kong-based political scientist, said that “a successful Shenzhou-7 mission would help distract China’s 1.3 billion people from serious economic and social concerns...and will further consolidate the [Chinese Communist] Party’s claim that they can get things moving”.79 Lam also commented that, “the leadership is banking on patriotism and nationalism to pull them through”.80

China gaining space dominance now- key to overall legitimacy of the country

Pollpeter 2008 (Kevin, China Project Manager for DGI’s Center for Intelligence Research and Analysis, “BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE: CHINA’S PROGRESS IN SPACE TECHNOLOGY DURING THE TENTH 5-YEAR PLAN AND THE U.S. RESPONSE,” US Government publication, http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute.army.mil/pdffiles/pub852.pdf)

China’s burgeoning space program provides opportunities for China to use the benefits derived from space power to become a more influential and respected nation. While China does not have an official grand strategy, the Chinese leadership appears to have reached a consensus on a plan which sustains the conditions necessary for economic growth and military modernization in the context of operating in a unipolar world dominated by the United States. This strategy is designed to ultimately usher in a multipolar world in which China is one of several great powers by protecting China’s core national interests against external threats and by shaping the international system in which it operates.

To this end, China’s space program is intended to portray China as a modernizing nation committed to the peaceful use of space while at the same time serving China’s political, economic, and military interests. It

viicontributes to China’s overall influence and provides capabilities that give China more freedom of action and opportunities for international leadership. Militarily, the People’s Liberation Army is undergoing reforms to transform itself into a military that is reliant on information for winning wars. Economically, China’s support for its space program lies in its potential as a driver for economic and technological advancement. Commercially, China is positioning itself as a low cost provider of space technologies and launch services. Commercial services not only increase revenues for the space industry but have also been used to advance China’s diplomatic interests with oil-rich countries. Politically, China’s expanding international cooper- ation on space activities portends a more influential for- eign policy. Domestically, by developing a robust space program and participating in high-profile activities such as human space flight, the Communist Party demonstrates that it is the best provider of material benefits to the Chinese people and the best organization to propel China to its rightful place in world affairs.

Quite simply, prestige, as part of a larger package of actions, can have geostrategic implications. For the past several years, China has embarked on somewhat of a charm campaign throughout Asia and other parts of the world as well. It has carefully and deliberately sought to transform its image from that of a bully to that of a partner, using very realist political means. Aid packages to Africa, trade and aid packages throughout Asia, inroads into South American countries, not altruistically, but for resources, have nevertheless woven China into the tapestry of the international community. Polls taken in 2005 are indicative of China's success. According to a Pew Research Center poll taken in April and May 2005, "China now has a better image than the U.S. in most European nations surveyed." China's manned space program provides gloss to its positive image, especially in the developing world, which is in its benefit to perpetuate.