Legal Challenges And Countermeasures Of International Cooperation On China's Space Station

The first module of China's first space station will be launched at the end of 2019 and operated in 2020.China's Space Station will conduct international cooperation globally and review applications for cooperation projects with the United Nations.The international cooperation of the Space Station is based on the basic principles of international law and the international treaty on outer space law.In history,there were different modes of cooperation such as closed bilateral cooperation of the Soviet Union&the Russian Space Station,closed multilateral cooperation of the International Space Station,which can be used for reference by China.The paper analyzes the legal basis of international cooperation of space stations,the similarities and differences between the China's Space Station and the Soviet Union&the Russian Space Station as well as the International Space Station in the theory and practice of international cooperation.Through these analyses,the author finds that the closed mode has inherent defects;the multilateral cooperation mode is complex,unstable and needs new legal system design concept.Based on existing model predictions,the author proposes the challenges of international law and related legal issues that China may encounter,including the design of the legal framework for international cooperation,the allocation of jurisdiction and control of space station,the construction of international dispute settlement systems,and the legal status of the person in the space station.By analyzing the above-mentioned major and urgent problems,and proposing the path and basic ideas for solving the problem,the paper aims to propose the legal countermeasures for the international cooperation of the China's space station.There are four major countermeasures.Firstly,the author suggests to design a five-level international cooperation legal framework and accelerate the domestic legislative process.The next idea is to clarify China's leadership position in the space station and a reasonable criminal jurisdiction system.The third point is building a fair and efficient international dispute settlement system.The last suggestion is to divide the identity of the people in the space station to distinguish between professional astronauts,scientific experts and space tourists.Through the study of law from the perspective of international law,the conclusion of the paper is to propose the countermeasures of China's space station in the rule of law at home and the international level,point out the important role of international soft law and the absence of international hard law,and generalize development trend of the theory of outer space law and the current state of legislation where the theory is behind the practice.