Between Orbit and Earth: What Role Will China Play in the Spaceflight of Tomorrow?

Topic

China is rapidly expanding its position in international space activities. Current strategic priorities include the further development of its crewed spaceflight program, planned lunar missions by 2030, robotic missions to Mars and asteroids, and the expansion of the Chinese space station as a long-term research platform. These technological advances—such as recently produced 8K footage from orbit—are embedded in a comprehensive state-driven approach that links scientific, industrial, and security-related dimensions.

At the same time, recent challenges—such as the delayed return of a Chinese spaceflight crew due to space debris—highlight how fragile the operational infrastructure in low Earth orbit remains and how strongly states depend on one another. This raises questions for Europe, and Germany in particular, about how to formulate their own space policy priorities and position themselves in an increasingly geopolitically structured field: in cooperation, in technological competitiveness, and in the regulatory shaping of outer space.

The Global China Conversation takes these developments as an opportunity to discuss China’s role in the spaceflight of tomorrow. We will examine how scientific ambitions, strategic interests, and international cooperation interact—and what courses of action result for European and German stakeholders.

Program

The event consists of different impulse lectures followed by a discussion.  

The Global China Conversation #45 will be held in German.

Juliana Süß

Juliana Süß is a researcher in the STAND project (Strategic Threat Analysis and Nuclear (Dis)Order) within the Security Policy Research Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP). Previously, she was a Research Fellow for Space Security in the Military Sciences team at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) in London. She is currently pursuing her PhD on deterrence in space at King’s College London and hosts the “War in Space” podcast, which explores the intersection of international security and outer space. Her research fields include military technology, arms control, and space policy. She completed her Master’s in Conflict, Security and Development at King’s College London and her Bachelor’s in Politics and International Relations at the University of Reading.

Matthias Wachter

Matthias Wachter is the Managing Director of the German NewSpace Initiative and Head of the Department for International Cooperation, Security, Raw Materials, and Space at the Federation of German Industries (BDI) in Berlin. He studied business administration in Coburg, New York, and Paris. As a Fulbright scholar, he completed a Master’s degree in International Relations at Rutgers University in the USA. He also holds an Executive MBA from the European School of Management and Technology (ESMT). Matthias is a reserve officer in the German Armed Forces and voluntarily took part in a foreign mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2006. He is a member of the Space Program Commission of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

Julia Fiedler

Julia Fiedler is Senior China Editor at Table.Briefings. She studied Regional Studies of East Asia / Focus on China in Cologne, with an emphasis on Chinese legal culture, and has studied and worked in Kunming and Beijing. Since 2022, she has been part of the China.Table team and focuses primarily on topics related to the economy and the automotive industry. Previously, Julia Fiedler worked at the Axel Springer publishing house as well as a TV journalist, including at n-tv.