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April 12 marked the 60th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s first human space flight in 1961. It also became an occasion for fresh appeals for maintaining the sanctity of outer space. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, delivering a special message on the occasion, said, “We support the start of negotiations on the development of an international legally binding instrument prohibiting the deployment of any types of weapons [in space], as well as the use of force or threat of force.” Echoing similar sentiments, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian said earlier in the week, “we are calling on the international community to start negotiations and reach agreement on arms control in order to ensure space safety as soon as possible.” Lijian added that “China has always been in favor of preventing an arms race in space, it has been actively promoting negotiations on a legally binding agreement on space arms control jointly with Russia.”�
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China has a new partner in its lunar ambitions: Russia. According to an agreement signed between the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and Russia’s Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities, the two governments will cooperate in establishing a permanent lunar base, either on the moon’s surface or in lunar orbit.
The memorandum of understanding, signed on March 9, calls for “extensive cooperation” on an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), described as “a comprehensive scientific experiment base with the capability of long-term autonomous operation, built on the lunar surface and/or on the lunar orbit.”
As Namrata Goswami has explained for The Diplomat, three main factors drive China’s interest in the moon: the potential to exploit lunar resources (like water ice, helium-3, and titanium), the chance to develop China’s space capabilities, and the national prestige of China taking global leadership of space exploration. “For Chi