Musk, Space Technology, and U.S.-China Relations†
Table of Contents
- China’s “Wish List” for Space-Related Investments
- The United States’s Restrictions
- Select Space Technologies
Estimated Reading Time
- 4.5 min
In July, immediately after China successfully retrieved lunar samples from the far side of the Moon, Dr. Mei Gechlik, Founder and CEO of SINOTALKS®, encouraged China to invite scientists from different countries, including the United States, to study these samples. Dr. Gechlik made the following observation: “The determination of U.S. scientists to remain competitive in lunar exploration may prompt them to urge U.S. authorities to accept China’s olive branch. […] If this occurs, a new era of ‘moon diplomacy’ will begin.” According to Reuters, a few U.S. universities are now contributing their efforts to make such U.S.-China joint studies possible.
Will this potential U.S.-China space collaboration open a door for Elon Musk to leverage his connections with Beijing and President-elect Donald Trump to create win-win opportunities for U.S. investment in China’s space-related industries? What types of space-related investments will likely survive rigorous regulatory reviews in China and the United States? The way in which China’s “wish list” for space-related investments evolves over the coming months, along with corresponding U.S. reactions, will help answer these questions.
China’s “Wish List” for Space-Related Investments
Jointly issued by China’s National Development and Reform Commission and the country’s Ministry of Commerce in 2022, the current version of China’s Catalogue of Industries for Encouraging Foreign Investment provides a list of nearly 1,500 types of industries, in which foreign investors are “encouraged” to invest.
“With respect to space-related investments, foreign investors are welcome to invest in the following industries anywhere in China […].”
With respect to space-related investments, foreign investors are welcome to invest in the following industries anywhere in China:
137. Production of high-and-new-tech non-ferrous metal materials and their products: high-temperature superconducting materials, […] precious metal composite materials, light metal composite materials, new-generation information technology industry, equipment for aviation and aerospace, […].
[…]
140. Research and development as well as manufacturing of lightweight and environment-friendly new materials for aviation, aerospace, shipbuilding, automobiles, and motorcycles (special aluminum plates, aluminum-magnesium alloy materials, aluminum alloy frames for motorcycles, etc.).
[…]
289. Research and development as well as production of new materials for aviation and aerospace.
[emphasis added]
Foreign investors are specifically encouraged to invest in “the manufacturing of equipment related to aerospace [emphasis added]” in Hainan Province and in “the production of special ceramics and the development of technology and equipment used in various fields, including […] medicine, electronics, aviation, and aerospace [emphasis added]” in Sichuan Province.
The United States’s Restrictions
“The above opportunities in China should appeal to U.S. investors, though these same investors should bear in mind a new development in the United States.”
The above opportunities in China should appeal to U.S. investors, though these same investors should bear in mind a new development in the United States.
On October 28, 2024, merely about a week before Donald Trump was elected as the next president of the United States, the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a “Final Rule” to implement President Joe Biden’s Order of August 9, 2023. The order, together with the “Final Rule” (effective on January 2, 2025), essentially restricts U.S. investors from investing in China across three categories of “national security technologies and products”, i.e., semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies, and artificial intelligence.
It is unclear whether the new Trump administration will make any changes to the Final Rule. Nor is it clear whether the administration may eventually choose to add new categories of “national security technologies and products” to address U.S. concerns about China’s use of “sensitive or advanced technologies or products critical for military, intelligence, surveillance, or cyber-enabled capabilities”. To be cautious, U.S. investors should, at this stage, primarily focus on space-related investments that are unlikely to be outlawed by U.S. authorities.
Select Space Technologies
A review of a list of the top ten space-related innovations in 2025 suggests that certain space-related technologies are unlikely to provoke U.S. concerns while they are also likely to be in strong demand by the Chinese market. Here are a few examples:
- cutting-edge technologies such as light-based manufacturing to drive the development of large space structures and reusable launch vehicles;
- green propulsion systems to support the use of hydrogen, oxygen, and other environment-friendly fuels;
- robotic mining equipment that is designed for autonomous drilling and extraction of resources under extreme space conditions; and
- sophisticated satellite tracking systems that use radar and optical sensors to actively predict potential collisions with satellites and space debris.
China is revising its Catalogue of Industries for Encouraging Foreign Investment, in the hope of adding more industries to welcome foreign investment. Elon Musk may seize this opportunity to urge China to add to the revised Catalogue industries covering the above-mentioned and other space-related technologies that are similarly deemed to be not sensitive in the current climate. The potential to significantly benefit U.S. manufacturers and create more jobs for U.S. workers without undermining national security should motivate the new Trump administration to consider more favorably the idea of greater U.S.-China collaboration in space and beyond.
- The citation of this article is: The Editorial Board of SINOTALKS®, Musk, Space Technology, and U.S.-China Relations, SINOTALKS.COM®, SinoExpress™, Nov. 13, 2024, https://sinotalks.com/sinoexpress/202411-english-musk-space-technology. ↩︎
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