Quoting a column by Yoshiko Sakurai in Shukan Shincho, the article examines China’s space development and the military ambitions behind it.
It discusses the Chang’e lunar missions and the broader implications of China’s quest for space dominance.
The essay argues that the wars of the 21st century will begin in cyberspace and outer space.

February 1, 2019.
Looking back at China’s space development, its military ambitions are obvious, and one senses intentions of conquest far removed from the peaceful development of humanity.
The wars of the twenty-first century will begin in cyberspace and outer space.

That Yoshiko Sakurai is a true national treasure of Japan is recognized by all people with clear insight.
Except for the disgraceful Italian individuals who, whether manipulated by the Asahi Shimbun or simply Marxists, carried out propaganda activities at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in line with Chinese and Korean Peninsula narratives and attacked her with insults and slander.
Especially those whom Saichō described as living “national treasures” hold sincere respect for her.

The following is from this week’s issue of Shukan Shincho, where she is serializing an excellent essay.

China monopolizing the Moon and beginning a space war.

Even when living in the middle of a great city, there are nights when one cannot help but gaze at the beautiful Moon.
Seen from Earth, 380,000 kilometers away, the Moon is beautifully clear whether it is waxing or full.
When the Moon is full and one looks carefully, it may sound ordinary to say so, but one can clearly see a rabbit there.

Now an artificial object is running across that lunar surface.
It is China’s rover “Yutu.”

On January 3, China’s lunar probe Chang’e-4 accomplished the unprecedented feat of landing on the far side of the Moon.
I feel no joy at all.

China sent Chang’e-1 in 2007 and Chang’e-2 in 2010 to orbit the Moon.
With this they created detailed maps of the lunar surface.
In 2013 Chang’e-3 landed on the near side of the Moon, and this time Chang’e-4 landed on the far side of the Moon, a place never reached before by humanity, deploying the rover Yutu onto the lunar surface.

Fifty years ago the American manned spacecraft Apollo 11 landed on the Moon and Commander Armstrong took humanity’s first step there.
At that time, I watched the broadcast images together with the family of a friend in Alberta, Canada.
Neither the Canadians nor I, a Japanese, were Americans, yet we were all transfixed.
I remember sharing excitement, admiration, and longing, and feeling happiness as if it were our own achievement.

This time there is no such exhilaration.
Instead I feel uneasy, wondering whether China may move ahead of the United States in space warfare.

Looking back at China’s space development, its military ambitions are obvious, and one senses intentions of conquest far removed from the peaceful development of humanity.
The wars of the twenty-first century will begin in cyberspace and outer space.

We already know that cyber warfare occurred in the August 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia and the March 2014 conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera explained on Genron TV that in Ukraine mobile phones suddenly stopped working, television and radio communications were cut off, and public transportation came to a halt.
Amid the confusion of the Ukrainian military, unfamiliar people arrived and occupied the city.
They were Russian troops, and the Crimean Peninsula was taken with astonishing ease.

To be continued.