China and India as rising powers and the militarisation of space

This chapter focuses on China and India as space powers with a specific focus on their growing interest in the use of space for military purposes. The chapter opens with an introduction and overview of China’s space programme, underlining the major accomplishments of its civilian space projects. The discussion then moves on to an examination of how China uses its space capabilities for military purposes. Following this, the chapter provides context for India’s space programme. It first discusses the key facets of India’s civilian programme and its notable achievements, before considering a recent shift towards the use of space for national security. Building on Scot Sagan’s framework on nuclear proliferation, the third section analyses China and India’s anti-satellite (ASAT) tests. It argues that such an analytical move helps to account for three reasons why states build ASATs, offering valuable insights into the study of China and India’s ASATs and their military activities more generally.