Key takeaways

• China’s Military-Civil Fusion (MCF) strategy is a multi-purpose tool to enhance national power, accelerate technological innovation, and drive industrial and economic development.
• MCF has reshaped China’s space sector, driving rapid innovation and fostering the rise of private commercial space actors aligned with national security and industrial goals.
• Europe has already been outpaced by both China and the U.S. in key space capabilities, weakening its defense posture and reducing its strategic influence in a domain that is increasingly shaping the broader geopolitical balance.
• Without credible capabilities, the EU risks being sidelined from setting the rules and standards in the space domain, limiting its ability to defend strategic interests and values.
• Dependence on U.S. space providers challenges the EU’s strategic autonomy, undermining secure, independent access to space, at a time of growing uncertainty over the future of the transatlantic security alliance.
• Drawing lessons from China’s model, the EU must accelerate innovation and better mobilize its private space sector to secure a competitive and autonomous position the global space race.