Aerospace Relations Between the US and China
Aerospace technology holds much geopolitical significance across international military, economic and diplomatic domains. As the bedrock of defence strategies and infrastructure globally, it promotes international alliances and exhibits the economic benefits that drive its advancement. The aerospace sector is highly competitive, transforming international power dynamics and fuelling competition between the global powers, especially between the United States and China. While the US aims to advance its aerospace industry in order to sustain military prowess and innovation, China has enhanced its aerospace capabilities as part of a broader strategy to project its influence on the international system while reducing reliance on foreign technology.
The aerospace industry is a critical component of American national security, defence strategy and economic stature, reinforcing the United States’ role as a global power in the realms of technological advancement and military prowess. Recognising the vitality of a strong aerospace industry, the Biden administration requested a US Department of Defence (DOD) budget of $849.8bn (£679.84bn) for 2025, one of the most sizable defence budgets of American history. A significant part of this budget is provided to aerospace technologies, which demonstrates the strategic imperative to improve aerospace supply chains in an attempt to mitigate issues posed by global supply chain disruptions. Ensuring durable supply chains for aerospace manufacturing does not merely protect the industry but also amplifies the United States’ leadership in the development of next-generation technologies such as hypersonic weapons and autonomous systems. These technologies are vital to defence procurement, enabling the US to counter political adversaries while also minimising risks posed to military personnel. Through prioritising artificial intelligence and other autonomous developments within the aerospace industry, the US aims to sustain dominance over its rivals and prepare for the future of warfare, which largely encompasses the employment of AI-powered mechanisms.
The relationship between the commercial and private aerospace sectors also plays a prominent role in American aerospace. Notably, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program represents an intersectional model of public-private cooperation, deriving from NASA’s traditional, isolationist approach. NASA’s collaboration with private-sector aerospace leaders such as SpaceX and Boeing has aided NASA in implementing cost-effective approaches towards transportation to and from the International Space Station (ISS). This has allowed NASA to redirect its resources to more large-scale projects like the Artemis missions, which seek to take humans to the moon once again and even to mars. This cooperative model corroborates the American aerospace industry by using innovations of the private sector to permit NASA to take part in more complex extra-terrestrial tasks, strengthening US dominance in the realm of low-Earth orbit.
Economically, the embrace of aerospace privatisation has led to prodigious growth in the commercial aerospace sector, which contributed 47% of the industry’s direct employment in 2024, while the national defence and security sector accounted for the remaining 53%. This increasing nexus between the commercial and defensive aerospace sectors reflects a rather cooperative approach that promotes American aerospace advancements, contributing to economic growth and enhancing the United States’ national defensive structure. Innovations of the private sector, particularly in regards to satellite technology and launch capacities, has fuelled the United States’ maintenance in the commercial aerospace industry, supporting broader support to the US economy.
In parallel, the Chinese government has launched an enterprising ten-year plan called ‘Made in China 2025’ which places aerospace at the centre of Chinese high-tech manufacturing strategy. This policy seeks to position China as a prominent leader of the international system through developing self-sufficient technologies, reducing dependence on Western technologies. In order to enforce this, China has invested in both military and commercial aerospace to gain superiority over American aerospace components.
Furthermore, China’s approach to aerospace enhancement is multidimensional, displaying an intersection of the economic, diplomatic and military domains. China has fostered its diplomatic scope through aerospace initiatives such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This has involved the establishment of the ‘Information Silk Road’, a communication network between the BRI partner states, operated through satellite technology. Through these deployments of Chinese satellites such as BeiDou, China is both strengthening its alliances while also reducing states’ dependency on US-dominated technology such as GPS. China’s proliferation of technology in space is an effort to redefine both terrestrial and space governance, challenging American hegemony.
However, within the military dimension, China has implemented a military presence in contested areas, namely, the South China Sea. This portrays the state’s aims to increase its stature in the aerospace sector. Yet, this can lead to geopolitical consequences. Notably, there was an incident recently in which Chinese military aircraft approached the coastline of Malaysia without the provision of warning or authority from Malaysia, and the Chinese did not respond to radio communications. This invoked an inception by the Malaysian Air Force. While China claimed that this was no more than a routine training exercise, Malaysian authorities deemed it to be a breach of their sovereignty. Incidents like these exacerbate regional tensions and suggest the occurrence of an aerospace arms race, as states strive for more effective air-defence measures in order to deter the assertiveness of Chinese threats. These developments exhibit the dual use of the aerospace sector, in which advancements in the industry can have ramifications regarding the projection of military aggression in disputed zones.
The aerospace industry has become a highly influential arena in regards to strategic competition between global powers, namely the United States and China. Both states hold that the aerospace industry is paramount to this military, diplomatic and economic development. The US, through increasing defence budgets and public-private partnerships, strives to sustain its technological dominance. Simultaneously, Chinese initiatives such as the Made in China 2025 plan and the establishment of the Information Silk Road aim to reduce the state’s dependency on Western technologies and increase its influence on the international system.
The competitive nature of these two states’ approaches to aerospace underscores the ever-growing geopolitical significance of the industry, as advancements within this sector do not merely foster economic prosperity, but also shape international power relations and regional apprehensions. Thus, the future of the aerospace industry will play a determinative role in the evolution of global security and international order.
Image courtesy of A1C Jake Welty via The United States Air Force ©2021. Some rights reserved.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of the wider St. Andrews Foreign Affairs Review team.
