FROM COMPETITION TO ADVANCEMENT: THE GEOPOLITICAL ASPECTS OF INNOVATION IN SPACE TECHNOLOGY BETWEEN THE US AND CHINA

Abstract

This research examines the impact of the United States and China geopolitical rivalry over space on humanity’s progress arguing that conflict—rather than collaboration—fuels innovation. The study is based on Kenneth Waltz’s Neorealist Theory and claims that in an international system lacking authority, great rival powers need to vie for superiority. It critiques historical and contemporary space races to illustrate how both nations pursuing technological arms competition has propelled progress in AI, quantum computing, aerospace engineering, and satellite defense systems. China counters US hegemony with a centralistic approach through CNSAs and programs like BeiDou. The United States counters by protecting its strategic advantage through collaboration with the private sector. The study proposes a Conflict-Progress Model to explain how destructive competition inadvertently enhances humanity's development. The study suggests fierce strategic competition fundamentally alters global power dynamics and aggressively propels innovation, restructuring hegemony, and turning outer space into the next contested zone of geostrategic rivalry.