China’s Bifurcated Space Diplomacy and Institutional Density

Abstract This article compares two central pillars of China’s space programme and observes that Chinese diplomacy is not uniform regarding international scientific co-operation either in its approaches or results. In the case Space Station programme, China National Administration went through existing United Nations (UN) channels successfully attracted partners. However, International Lunar Research has avoided UN used national bilateral platforms. bifurcation results offers an intriguing puzzle concerning co-operation: practices institutionalised multilateral areas state-centric co-exist this further complicate issue diplomacy. To propose a potential explanation, it argued here crucial intermediate variable — institutional density requires theorising, as seems to influence strategic choices about diplomacy, which may lead success failure.