I am of the opinion that commercial access to space, and the tech needed to do it profitably, came along at the right time to reduce the likelihood of a World War with the Chinese bloc (including satellite states like Russia). Earth territory is important if that’s all you have to work with, but as the proliferation of both real and cosplay spaceports demonstrates, you don’t need all that much land to be a player overhead.

The ability to inexpensively access limitless territory may reduce pressure to acquire some the old-fashioned way. But space is like any other wasteland; not all parts are equally desirable. There are only so many profitable orbits and resource bodies to work with. Those oasii are just as desirable as any on Earth, and likely to generate as much conflict.

That note would only be terrible if it was written in Chinese.