Assessing the Particularity and Potentiality of Civil–Military Integration Strategy for Space Activities in China

Abstract

The relationship between the civil and defence industries in China has undergone institutional changes from separation to combination and integration. Civil–military integration (CMI) was uplifted as a national-level strategy in 2015. Outer space was prioritised in the 2015 strategy, which presents an interesting opportunity for a review of its particularity and potentiality in China. The application of the CMI to space activities is a product of national policies related to economic development and technological advancement instead of a result of a military modernisation campaign. The CMI strategy holds the potential of being an enabler for space activities in China to accommodate the market-oriented approach and conform to the implementation practice of CMI in other advanced space countries. However, reform efforts remain at the early stages of development. Its operationalisation under the state-led development approach is characterised by uncertainty, ambiguity, and fluidity. The reforms are demanding in terms of tackling the entrenched issues of breaking down civil–military barriers and managing the contradiction between the traditional state-led approach and the revolutionary market-oriented approach. Specifically, it is in need of basic infrastructure to facilitate the development of commercial space, including a high-level, coherent framework of policy guidelines and the improvement of governance structure and institutional mechanisms through the enactment of a space law.