China boosts its soft power in Africa while launching African space ambitions
- Satellite technology deemed crucial to China-Africa relations but not a priority for the US in its relationship with the continent
- The African space industry is estimated to be worth US$7 billion and projected to rise to US$10 billion in the next five years
Providing financial support for African nations’ space programmes is helping China to advance its soft power on the continent, experts say.
Temidayo Oniosun, a Nigerian space scientist and managing director of industry news website Space in Africa, said: “China often comes to the aid of countries and provides loans for them to acquire satellites.”
China’s model is different from that of Russia – which is also a big player in Africa’s burgeoning space market – where African governments fund the Russian projects from domestic sources.
For instance, when Ethiopia launched its first satellite from a Chinese space station in December last year, Beijing is reported to have covered US$6 million of the US$8 million cost.
The probe will be used for weather forecasting, and monitoring the environment and crops.
China will help Ethiopia launch a second, remote-sensing, satellite on December 20. According to the Ethiopian Space Science and Technology Institute, the probe will be launched from China’s Taiyuan launch centre in central China’s Shanxi province.