La Cina nella geopolitica dello spazio. Una breve analisi alla luce del ritorno di Donald Trump alla Casa Bianca

The expansion of the People’s Republic of China in the space sector represents a paradigmatic case of convergence between multilateral rhetoric and competitive geopolitical practice. The adoption of a discourse centered on the “shared future for humankind” reflects an attempt to frame outer space as a cooperative domain. However, China’s strategic initiatives—ranging from satellite mega constellations and cislunar economic planning to the integration of private-sector actors—reveal a fundamentally realist logic, aimed at safeguarding national interests and challenging US hegemonic dominance. This strategic ambivalence unfolds within an increasingly systemic competition, where space emerges as a new frontier of great-power rivalry. The return of Donald Trump to the US presidency could intensify asymmetric and antagonistic dynamics, reinforcing bilateral and deregulatory approaches aligned with a mercantilist vision of space commerce. Within this framework, space appears less as a “global common” and more as a contested strategic domain, where cooperative rhetoric serves primarily as an instrument of soft power rather than a genuine normative constraint.