A big game is unfolding between China, the United States, Russia, and India. Foreign media: Russia | the United States | the new territory
On August 14th, the website of the Loy Institute for International Policy Research in Australia published an article titled "The Moon: The Big Game on the New Plate". The author is Wade Hind, a researcher at the Policy Research Institute of the American Association for Asia in New Delhi, India. The article excerpt is as follows:
India has joined a major power game with the United States, China, and Russia in searching for lunar treasures and strategic advantages.
There is a certain relationship between humans and land. Even in the era of virtual reality, humans are still competing for territory. When the song of excessive globalization became popular, Russia still emphasized that geopolitics is innate. The thirst for space between heaven and earth is real, so even the surface of the moon has become like a "golden spot in the city center". Major powers such as the United States, China, and Russia are developing the ability to create new maps in order to raise their flags in new territories.
On January 18, 2021, personnel from foreign embassies and international organizations exchanged views during a visit to the Chang'e-5 mission spacecraft model and physical object at the National Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
It is in this context that India is beginning to attempt new moon landing missions. If everything goes according to plan, the landing of India's "Luna 3" probe on the moon may become the world's first soft landing near the south pole of the moon. If a successful soft landing on the South Pole of the Moon is achieved, it will ensure that India enters the elite clubs of major geopolitical powers - the United States, Russia, and China.
A successful lunar soft landing will greatly boost the morale of the Indian scientific community. However, Indian government officials have other areas where they need to spend money. As major aerospace countries enhance their ability to explore space, they are planning to conduct deep space research and interstellar exploration. This trend has increased the strategic value of the moon as a long-range space exploration launch platform.
In addition, the economic driving force for the extraction of outer space resources is also unstoppable. Countries and private enterprises are greedily seizing this opportunity. Experts believe that there are abundant lithium, nickel, copper, cobalt, zinc, tungsten, gold, platinum, and various rare earth minerals on the surfaces of celestial bodies outside of Earth, such as asteroids, the moon, and even Mars.
Even the Earth Moon space, located between the Earth and the Moon, is receiving increasing attention. Experts point out that the space between Earth and the moon contains abundant and profitable resources. Establishing infrastructure in this region will also bring military advantages, such as improving surveillance capabilities.
Beijing has a massive lunar exploration program aimed at the Earth Moon space. China has successfully achieved a soft landing on the far side of the moon, searching for lunar samples and conducting experiments.
China also stated that it will attempt to have astronauts land on the moon before 2030.
Beijing's continuous efforts to utilize its growing space technology are reigniting Washington's space strategic ambitions. The United States has its own version of the International Lunar Research Station - the Artemis program. Traditional allies of the United States, such as Japan, Canada, and Europe, all support the Artemis plan.
Destiny politics is a new product of territorial geopolitics - countries are engaging in a grand game on a new territory.
