China-Pakistan Space Cooperation: Path, Motivation And The Future

Abstract

After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, friendly bilateral relations between China and Pakistan have become increasingly close in various fields following China’s peaceful rise. The space cooperation that started after the end of the Cold War is a sign of the gradual progress of the relationship between the two countries to the current all-weather strategic cooperative partnership. With China’s assistance, Pakistan has achieved significant milestones in the space field. Pakistan is also a key node in China’s strategy to expand international space cooperation. After the 2010s, China-Pakistan space cooperation was integrated with the construction of the Space Silk Road and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor under the framework of the Belt and Road Initiative, becoming a model for space cooperation specifically promoting the social and economic development of developing countries. This paper outlines the complete picture of China-Pakistan space cooperation under the evolutionary logic and chronological context of "ideological-materialization" two-way mutual construction, so as to reasonably predict the prospects of China-Pakistan space cooperation.