International Legal Governance of Space Resources and the Role of National Frameworks: The Case of China

Abstract Following decades long political and legal uncertainty, several space-faring States passed national laws asserting (or reaffirming) private rights on resources extracted in space. This “bottom-up” approach is now shaping the fundamentals of international norms and rules. While the so-called “Artemis Bloc” and the US legislative and policy-making efforts have been examined extensively, what is missing is an in-depth analysis of the stance and response of other major space-faring nations. This article contributes to the scholarship by studying China’s perspective. The article considers the ongoing proliferation of national laws and policy-making efforts and the increased pace of commercialisation in the space sector as the driving force of international law-making. It then notes the absence of a clear-cut national legislation in China governing space operations linked to resource extraction from celestial bodies. The paper argues that China, as a major space-faring and a developing country, is poised to have an assertive voice in international space law-making. It shows how a stronger national legal framework, coupled with international law and policy-making efforts, can elevate China’s contribution in international space law—in particular regarding space resource extraction and utilisation.