China builds space alliances in Africa as Trump cuts foreign aid

On the outskirts of Cairo, a cutting-edge space lab was supposed to be the first in Africa to produce homegrown satellites. Step inside the plant, though, and the made-in-Africa image begins to fade.

Satellite equipment and parts arrive in crates from Beijing. Chinese scientists scan space-tracking monitors and deliver instructions to Egyptian engineers. A Chinese flag hangs from one wall. The first satellite assembled at the factory, hailed as the first ever made by an African nation, was built mainly in China and launched from a spaceport there in December 2023.

The Egyptian satellite lab is the latest advancement in China’s secretive overseas space program. Beijing is building space alliances in Africa to enhance its global surveillance network and advance its bid to become the world’s dominant space power, Reuters has learned. China has publicly announced much of this space assistance to African countries, including its donations of satellites, space monitoring telescopes and ground stations.

What it hasn’t discussed openly, and which Reuters is reporting for the first time, is that Beijing has access to data and images collected from this space technology, and that Chinese personnel maintain a long-term presence in facilities it builds in Africa.