“Pakistan's participation in the China Space Station program reflects the deep-rooted ties between the two countries.  It will contribute to mutual knowledge sharing and the broader vision of peaceful space exploration for the benefit of humanity,” said Lin Xiqiang, director general of CMSA. China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) and Pakistan Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) officially signed a cooperation agreement last week to select and train Pakistani astronauts for future missions to China's Tiangong space station.

China and Pakistan have a long history of extensive cooperation in the field of aerospace.  The personnel from both countries are well-acquainted and collaborate closely, establishing a strong foundation for the successful completion of various cooperative projects, Gwadar Pro reported on Wednesday. Last year, China launched Pakistan's first lunar satellite, CubeSat, into the Moon's orbit as part of its historic Chang’e 6 mission. This achievement marked Pakistan's inaugural lunar flyby.

Experts indicate that selecting Pakistan as the first guest for China’s space station is not surprising as Islamabad is home to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, the flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative.  “In this kind of increased polarization of interest in the world, China, both politically and also from the technological point of view, is trying to be the front-runner of, we can say, the Global South,” said Carlo Iorio, director of the Center for Research and Engineering in Space Technology at the Free University of Brussels.

China's vision of lowering the "threshold" for developing countries to enter and explore space also reflects the country's commitment to fulfilling its international obligations as a major spacefaring nation, experts noted. Some foreign media have reported that the first foreign astronaut welcomed by the Chinese space station hails from a developing country.  This is highly beneficial for promoting the advancement of the space sector in developing nations, particularly for emerging countries with a nascent space industry or those that have only recently begun to establish their space programs.  This development will significantly contribute to the growth of their space industries.

Credit: Independent News Pakistan (INP) — Pak-China