China also has a space tracking station in Swakopmund, Namibia. It opened in 2001 to support China’s manned space missions and is managed by the Xian Satellite Control Centre under the People’s Liberation Army.

Bulelani Jili, an assistant professor at Georgetown University in Washington, said Beijing’s strategy was about “strategic presence and technical lock-in”, as ground stations, data-receiving facilities and navigation infrastructure – often compatible with China’s BeiDou satellite navigation system – created technical dependence.

Consequently, he said, China could “become the default partner for maintenance, upgrades, training and bandwidth, making alternatives operationally and financially costly”.

“By delivering visible symbols of partnership, such projects generate political capital while embedding long-term ties with defence, telecommunications and science ministries,” Jili said.

China’s role is most evident in North Africa. Last month, Algeria launched the Alsat-3A and Alsat-3B satellites from China’s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre.

Deployed 15 days apart, the satellites allow the government to monitor oil infrastructure, improve agricultural yields and manage disasters.

The launch was part of a 2023 contract with the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, which included ground control systems and local technical training.

But Beijing’s partnership is most advanced in Egypt, where its investment in Egypt Space City – a satellite technology, research and production facility in Cairo – has created a regional manufacturing hub.

In December, Egypt launched the Space Plasma Nanosatellite Experiment (SPNEX) mission, a space laboratory for monitoring climate change and space weather.

It was launched on a Chinese Lijian-1 Y11 rocket and assembled and tested at the Chinese-funded Satellite Assembly, Integration and Test Centre in Egypt Space City.

Egypt’s infrastructure now serves as the heart of the African Union’s African Space Agency.

He said that projects in Namibia, Egypt, Nigeria and Ethiopia reflected Beijing’s position as a long-term partner in the continent’s space development.

Iderawumi explained that these projects served as technical and political footholds while expanding China’s global space infrastructure footprint. By tracking multiple Chinese satellites, the African facilities also allow host countries to access Beijing’s satellite data.

In Ethiopia, Beijing built and funded the ground station for the Entoto Observatory and Research Centre, while in Abuja, Nigeria, it built the control station for the NigComSat-1R satellite.

Meanwhile, Tunisia hosts the first overseas BeiDou Navigation Satellite System centre, providing positioning services across the region as a competitor to America’s Global Positioning System (GPS).

Julie Klinger, an associate professor in the geography and spatial sciences department at the University of Delaware, said that space power depended on terrestrial systems – ground stations, data pipelines and industrial capacity.

“These investments help institutionalise relationships that persist well beyond a single mission,” Klinger said.

Klinger noted that these facilities normalised Chinese technical standards and platforms.

She cited the Tunis-based BeiDou centre as a model for expanding adoption of the Chinese navigation system through professional training, joint research and pilot projects in fields such as agriculture and maritime monitoring.

Other global powers have also contributed to African space programmes. The European Union partners with the continent through the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) and Africa initiative, while Italy maintains a presence via the Luigi Broglio Space Centre in Kenya.

The United States provides essential Earth observation data to African countries through the Servir Global Collaborative.

Although Western nations lead in high-end technology and private innovation, China dominates the construction of space infrastructure in Africa. Through its Space Information Corridor, Beijing has established a permanent ground presence that rivals have yet to match.

Klinger explained that gifting infrastructure was a diplomatic tool because it involved “more than just talk”, particularly when linked to data for development priorities such as agriculture, flood mapping and climate monitoring.

This created long-term ties regarding who “controls pipelines, formats, analytics, storage”, she added.

Iderawumi identified Africa as a growth market for Chinese satellite platforms and BeiDou-based navigation. He said this bond was strengthened by China’s expansion of Fengyun meteorological satellite services to over 30 countries, allowing Beijing to scale its space economy internationally.

He added that China offered comprehensive “end-to-end” solutions encompassing satellite design, launch services, ground station construction and technical training, often at lower costs and with more flexible financing than Western counterparts.