A Brief History of Outer Space Cooperation Between Latin America and China

Abstract

Scholarship on Latin America-China relations has focused predominantly on trade agreements, commodity exports, investment, migration, and, to a lesser extent, geopolitical implications for the post-Cold War world order. Entirely absent from research on Latin America-China relations is the question of outer space cooperation, despite the centrality of outer space-based technologies to the very sectors and relations that have proven so generative for Latin America-China scholarship and policy engagement since the turn of the millennium. Bilateral outer space cooperation between China and Latin American countries dates back to 1984, while multilateral engagements by all parties shaped the dawn of the space age in the 1960s. As such, this collaboration is an important antecedent to what is generally considered the "new" or "contemporary" geography of Latin America-China relations. Drawing on archival research, legal documents, and interviews, this article presents a brief historical geography of Latin America-China cooperation in outer space research, development, and policy.