An Anatomy Of China-brazil Cooperation In The Space Realm: Patrners, Rivals Or Both?

This research is a critical analysis about the China-Brazil cooperation in thespace realm. Although it talks about the relevance of technical aspects involving spaceprograms, it does not have, as its main goal, to study them, at least not directly. Thisresearch will focus on political aspects of space cooperation. Due to this reason, itfalls not only onto the reasons, but also over China and Brazil’s governmentexpectations in developing space programs and in cooperating in the space realm. Itwill also seek to verify the results and political gains, which came into being throughthis cooperation.In so doing, this research will focus mainly on the China-Brazil cooperation forconstructing satellites for remote monitoring, the CBERS. It has been chosen becauseit is about a partnership that has become a South-South role model and because theBrazilian Space Program is turned on cooperating with China through the remotemonitoring satellites program. Thus, this research will show the path which has beenrun by the CBERS since its first launching in November the14th,1999, until it placeditself in a highlighted place in the history of bilateral China-Brazil relationship. It willalso attempt to show the reasons, which led both countries to cooperate in this area,being the main one the absence of conflicts of fundamental interest between both ofthem. That is to say, China and Brazil, enjoyed mutual trust, which is a fundamentalcondition so that cooperation in an area, which is so sensible and strategic, could benourished and flourished.Fifteen years after the launching of CBERS-1, the China-Brazil Joint Laboratoryfor Space Weather was inaugurated, and it opened a new chapter in the relationsbetween Brazil and China due to the importance of the institutions involved as well asthe nature of the cooperation, for their long-term prospects and due to the potential forexchanges which was created from this project.Nonetheless, the path towards cooperation was not easy. China and Brazil wentthrough difficulties to take their space programs forward. Technological-orientedembargoes imposed by developed countries were one of the many challenges imposedto both countries ever since they commenced their space programs. The much-narrowed group of countries that have space technology did not wish to see theirspace hegemony challenged. Therefore, the south-south cooperation, replacing thenorth-south cooperation, portrayed as a viable alternative for surmounting common obstacles. The CBERS-1marked not only the breakaway from the monopoly of thiskind of technology which developed countries had, but also substantiated the viabilityof South-South cooperation in this realm.However, it is necessary to consider that each country has their own perceptionabout the world and that they can prepare themselves for future events based on theirown understandings about the underway changes in the international affairs. Chinaand Brazil have, therefore, their own political agendas, their own projects for nationaldevelopment and very specific interests that may, or may not, converge in adetermined historical moment. Considering this fact, we are requested to answer thefollowing question: will the future of China-Brazil cooperation in the space realm becharacterized by cooperation, by competition or they will cooperate and competesimultaneously?In this research, we shall attempt to demonstrate, through the analysis of theCBERS program, that both countries have conditions to overcome the challenges notonly in this area, but also in other areas where they may wind up establishingcooperation. It is through the critical analysis of all the factors, which will examinedand then futher studied in more detail throughout this research, that we may concludethat the future of the China-Brazil cooperation in the space realm has a vastcooperative potential, which is strengthened by the cooperation profile, by mutualtrust, and by the inexistence of fundamental conflicts of interest when it comes tobilateral relations and the cooperation program in the space realm between China andBrazil.