How China incorporates and fosters commercial space activities by its national space law instruments

Abstract

China has become a major space-faring nation in recent years with its rapid development of space technologies and activities. Several important policy and legal documents have been issued to promote the advancement of space commercialisation. This chapter examines the current legal regime for commercial space activities in China and examines how China incorporates and fosters commercial space activities through its national space law instruments. It focuses on the diverse national instruments and state practice in the regulation of space commercialisation and privatisation in China. China is taking a pragmatic and progressive approach in constructing a regulatory regime for space activities; hence it will take some more years for China to have its own domestic space legislation enacted by the national legislature. The existing administrative regulations and rules in the field of space registration, licensing, and export control, combined with the 2021 White Paper on Space Activities and other policy documents, serve as an interim regulatory regime and provide a solid basis for future national space legislation to promote further development of commercial space activities in China. Through the examination of relevant policies and laws regulating the private space sector activities in what remains a state-driven economy, the chapter concludes by offering its outlook and considerations for further development and internationalisation of commercial space activities in China.