In international relations, expanding institutionalised channels of consultation is seen as enhancing cooperation. Pursuing this, it is estimated that nearly 90 countries (and many more private enterprises) are presently using space, either on their own or in partnership with others, to further individual or collective interests.

The West used the Cold War to further diplomatic influence and create ‘satellite’ states based on geopolitical ideology. Asia has taken it a notch higher by using ‘satellites’ in space as a diplomatic tool to further socio-economic interests and, possibly, even broaden political sphere of influence. They are also being used to help developing countries overcome their local problems associated with land, water, forests and crops.

China, India and Japan are the most influential players in this domain (with South Korea slowly emerging as the fourth noteworthy actor). Each of them is increasingly using space diplomacy as an out-of-the box foreign policy tool.

While China is opening the doors to foreign astronauts, India is offering communication transponders to its neighbours. From a Gulf perspective, this newage cooperation has taken the form of KhalifaSat, the first Emirati satellite built with the help of South Korea and launched in October 2018 from Japan, and the Emirates Mars Mission's spacecraft that was launched in July 2020 by a Japanese rocket.

As balance of power equations get reconfigured, there is evidence that international political-security competition in space may supersede other considerations in the future. For now, however, there are ample notable space-related developments in Asia that fall within the realm of soft power, which this chapter explores.

Foreign Policy Tool

Technological capabilities in outer space have long been used as an effective foreign policy tool. In the earliest examples of space diplomacy, the United States and erstwhile Soviet Union focused their efforts on convincing other countries of their capabilities in space and their best intentions in utilising them. This meant goodwill tours of cosmonauts, astronauts and space hardware.

As part of this effort, Yuri Gagarin travelled the world after his flight to space; Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev sent one of space dog Strelka's puppies, Pushinka, to first daughter Caroline Kennedy in 1961 as a goodwill gesture; and NASA and the US State Department teamed up in 1962 to send John Glenn's Friendship 7 spacecraft on a tour around the world.

Other prominent examples include: the United States using LandSat satellites for over four decades to deliver spectacular and scientific images of the Earth to most countries of the world; and the Soviet Union flying an Indian cosmonaut to space in 1984 aboard Soyuz T-11.