Wu added that China will welcome 50 countries, 500 international research institutions and 5,000 overseas researchers who will join the ILRS program. They will help to develop the station and manage its facilities, and will share in the scientific research results.

It is now clear, at least to me, that the new space race is not between individual nations, anymore, but between coalitions, or maybe “bloc” is a better word. Rather than the Soviet Union (or Russia) vs. The U.S., it is now China (the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) bloc) vs. the U.S. (the Artemis Accords bloc) vs. commercial space companies (a bloc made up of competitors).

Despite being bullied by the governments, I expect the commercial space companies to come out on top quickly. They are more motivated. They are better financed. They are far more agile. A triple threat. Wait until they start cooperating with each other in their own teams!

No wonder various governments are such impediments to commercial space. The governments see themselves as being in competition with their own citizens. This is a problem with seeing nations as their own entities rather than as the protectors of their citizens. We humans invented government to do three things: 1) Protect our rights from all enemies, foreign and domestic. 2) Peaceably resolve disputes as disinterested third parties. 3) Stay out of our way. Governments have grown to see their relationships with us differently.