[echelon]

And just like a cold war, China is making a strategic move.

The lunar south pole seems to be prime real estate. One of two always lit / always dark positions, and it has more water ice and craters than the north pole. Definitely the better of the two spots.

Unless they're willing to share, they're shafting the rest of the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_south_pole

[dirtyid]

It'll be useful leverage to get 7 south pole claimants, and 8 arctic states to share land / transit rights.

Interesting to speculate if moon claims will intermingle with that on earth.

[camdat]

Source on them making a "strategic move"?

I see that they completed a landing a couple years ago, but India made the same attempt.

[bagels]

Nothing we do on the moon in the near term will require that it be to the exclusion of other countries. Landing a rover, or creating a moon base of a few hundred square meters still leaves a lot more moon for others.

[inglor_cz]

Nothing except human nature ... see the current controversies in the South China Sea.

States are very territorial. There are emotional reasons for it, but also the exclusive claim for natural resources.

If water is found in mineable concentrations in only a few spots of the Moon, I bet there will be a serious conflict over those spots. It is literally a matter of survival for the future colonists.

[echelon]

I had recently read the coverage on Slashdot [1], which makes mention of territorial claims. China and Russia oppose the US' claims.

[1] https://science.slashdot.org/story/22/01/01/042219/china-spe...