Special to CosmicTribune.com, July 12, 2023

Geostrategy-Direct

By Richard Fisher

Both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have ambitions to become major players in space.

Both are members of the 27-member Artemis Accords, setting out agreed behavior on the Moon, and both have recently sent astronauts on missions aboard the International Space Station.

On May 30, two Saudi astronauts, Rayyanah Barnawi, 33, and first Arab woman in space, and Air Force pilot Ali Al Qarni, 31, returned from the ISS to Earth in a SpaceX Dragon capsule, arranged by the Axiom space company where they joined UAE astronaut Sultan Al Neyadi who is on a 6-month mission.

However, over the last several decades China has worked diligently to increase its strategic influence, leveraging its thirst for Middle East petroleum into military relationships, increased arms sales, diplomatic clout and now a priority on expanding space cooperation in this region.

Chinese Communist Party leader Xi Jinping made this clear during his Dec. 9, 2022 speech before the summit of China and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (The Kingdom of Bahrain, the State of Kuwait, the Sultanate of Oman, the State of Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates):

Xi said: “China will carry out a string of cooperation projects with GCC countries in remote sensing and communications satellite, space utilization, and aerospace infrastructure. The two sides could select and train astronauts together, and China welcomes GCC astronauts to its space station for joint missions and space science experiments with their Chinese colleagues. China welcomes GCC countries’ participation in payloads cooperation in its aerospace missions including Chang’e and Tianwen and will consider establishing a China-GCC joint center for lunar and deep space exploration.”

Saudi Arabia made a major step toward building space cooperation with China in early July when it sent a delegation led by Engineer Abdulla Al-Swaha, Chairman of the Board of the Saudi Space Commission.

According to a July 6 Saudi Press Agency report, at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China’s main space company, Al-Swaha “discussed opportunities for strategic cooperation and investment in future joint projects in developing the space sector in the Kingdom.”

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