OpinionCan Hong Kong hitch a ride on China’s commercial aerospace wave?

China’s 15th five-year plan is about to make commercial aerospace a mainstream pillar of national development, and Hong Kong cannot afford to miss this opportunity. Whether the city can translate this national push into concrete local strengths will become a test of its ability to integrate with – and contribute to – China’s next wave of strategic industries.

Commercial aerospace has moved to a full-scale strategic policy in just a few years, sitting at the intersection of satellites, communications, big data and artificial intelligence (AI). Beijing has already signalled that aviation and aerospace, together with the low-altitude economy, will be nurtured as “emerging pillar industries” and integrated with other future technologies such as quantum and 6G in the next five years.

The US-Iran war underlines how commercial space has become embedded in modern conflict, with private firms such as Planet Labs providing high-resolution imagery that informs real-time targeting, battle damage assessment and public accountability. These satellites are dual-use by design: the same constellations that support logistics, timing and financial transactions can also help militaries plan strikes, exposing how deeply space infrastructure underpins both civilian life and security operations.

China’s promotion of aerospace and the wider low-altitude economy as core innovation arenas creates an opening for Hong Kong to plug into this ecosystem. The question for Hong Kong is not whether it should build rockets on Victoria Harbour, but whether it can convert national strategy into local opportunity through deeper integration with China’s aerospace belts and regional clusters.

Across the mainland, cities have already carved out distinct roles in a coordinated national system. During Our Hong Kong Foundation’s recent trip to Chengdu, the delegation saw first‑hand how this coordination works in practice. On that visit, I had the opportunity to tour a commercial aerospace industrial estate and meet the team at Guoxing Yuhang (known outside China as ADA Space), a private company working at the frontier of AI‑enabled satellites.

Since its establishment in 2018, ADA Space has demonstrated remarkable success. It has already launched 27 satellites, including 21 AI‑enabled “smart satellites”, giving it the largest cumulative number of AI satellites among China’s private commercial aerospace firms and showcasing the transformative role private companies can play in advancing the country’s space capabilities.