This article compares two central pillars of China’s space programme and observes that
Chinese space diplomacy is not uniform regarding international scientific co-operation
either in its approaches or in results. In the case of the Chinese Space Station programme,
the China National Space Administration went through existing United
Nations (UN) channels and successfully attracted international partners. However, the
International Lunar Research Station has avoided UN channels and used national and
bilateral platforms. This bifurcation in approaches and results offers an intriguing puzzle
concerning international cooperation: practices of institutionalised multilateral
cooperation and areas of state-centric bilateral cooperation coexist in this case and
further complicate the issue of space diplomacy. To propose a potential explanation, it
is argued here that a crucial intermediate variable — institutional density — requires
further theorising, as it seems to influence strategic choices about space diplomacy,
which may lead to success or failure.
China’s Bifurcated Space Diplomacy and Institutional Density China’s Bifurcated Space Diplomacy and Institutional Density
Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer & Kunhan Li
Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer and Kunhan Li, coctoral candidate at the University of Nottingham — Ningbo, China, investigate Chinese space diplomacy and its bifurcation between institutionalised multilateral cooperation and state-centric bilateral co-operation.
China’s Bifurcated Space Diplomacy and Institutional Density
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Profile of Prof. Dr. Maximilian Mayer