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When U.S-China Competition Reaches Outer Space   

When U.S-China Competition Reaches Outer Space   

ALXA, CHINA - APRIL 17: The combination of the Shenzhou-18 crewed spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket is vertically transferred to the launching area at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on April 17, 2024 in Alxa League, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China. (Photo by Li Zhenzhou/VCG via Getty Images)

SUBSCRIBER+ EXCLUSIVE REPORTING — A race for control of space is underway, and just as on earth, the U.S. and China are the top competitors. ”Congested and contested” is the way Deborah Lee James, former Secretary of the Air Force, describes the current space environment, in which earthly frictions and ambitions are being projected into space, with China and the U.S. leading the way. 

James and other experts told The Cipher Brief that today’s uneasy mix of economic competition and military rivalry between Washington and Beijing now stretches into the heavens.  

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