Kenya drawn into US-China rivalry as space race heats up
Business
By
Brian Ngugi
| Nov 22, 2025
A new US congressional report has cast a spotlight on Kenya, warning that the country’s growing space partnership with China could be a front for expanding Beijing’s military ambitions in orbit.
The warning, issued by the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), effectively draws Nairobi into the heart of a burgeoning great-power competition in space between rivals China and the US.
The USCC is an independent body created by the US Congress to monitor the national security implications of the US-China economic relationship.
In its 2025 Annual Report to Congress, seen by The Standard, USCC flagged Kenya’s deepening space ties with China, which boasts what Kenyan officials call a “robust and vibrant space industry.”
Kenya’s value in this cosmic contest is rooted in its geography.
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Nairobi’s proximity to the equator makes it a strategically advantageous location for space launches, according to scientific research.
Launching eastward from the equator allows rockets to harness the Earth’s rotational speed, giving them a free boost that saves significant fuel and costs, a critical advantage for any space-faring nation, researchers say.
US concerns, however, centre on the “dual-use” nature of this collaboration, meaning the same technology and infrastructure used for peaceful purposes like Earth observation and crop monitoring can also be adapted for military applications.
Kenya’s space partnership with China is already active.
The Kenya Space Agency (KSA) has hosted delegations from the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA) to discuss joining the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), a China-led initiative to build a permanent base on the moon by the 2030s.
Further collaboration includes a partnership with China’s STAR.VISION Aerospace on a programme that uses artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for tasks like maritime surveillance and crop monitoring.
Washington fears that Beijing is building a global network of space infrastructure, including ground stations and tracking facilities established through partnerships with countries like Kenya, that could be co-opted for military purposes.
The US report warns that these global assets could feed critical data into China’s advanced military systems, known as C4ISR (an integrated system for Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance).
This powerful capability is essential for modern warfare and could, in a future conflict, be used to target US satellites and undermine the information superiority that the American military relies on, the US report claims.
In response, the US report is advising the US government to dramatically increase its global space outreach.
The proposed counter-strategy would see the US National Space Council provide developing nations, including those in Africa, with attractive and credible alternatives for space partnership.
The US reckons it must position itself as the “partner of choice” for both government and commercial space launches, offering Kenya and others a path to space development that isn’t shadowed by military alignment.