a) challenging US domination of the space
b) China might (and probably will) deploy weapons in the space, just like the US does.
a) challenging US domination of the space
b) China might (and probably will) deploy weapons in the space, just like the US does.
Point (a) just begs the question. What is the value of "US domination of the space"? What does it cost us if the Chinese strength increases in some way?
I submit that in the same way we say that the space program helps the USA broadly, it's also true that in the long run, success in space by anyone in the world helps everyone in the world.
China's leaders have ambitious long-term goals for their space program that will be almost impossible to meet on its own (the cost of a Mars mission would be staggering), so cooperation with the US is in their interests as well as ours. China gains access to dual-use technology, we get to massage China's nationalism into something less virulent, and if nothing else, we both get to delay a strategic confrontation.
Hey, I'm just some guy on the internet. But it seems wise to avoid repeating the mistakes of the 20th century and do a better job of accepting the reality of China's rise to great power status and accommodating them into the international system.