1.) They assumed that Space was a government domain, forever.

2.) They have copied *government* programs, such as expendable SLS and the European programs, with the design of their Long March 5.

3.) They assumed that there would be no push-back from the US government to their PLA Strategic Support Force, tasked to disable the US MilSpace assets, whose effectiveness impressed the PLA so much in 1991 and 2003 in Iraq. Basically, like all their contacts here in the US, they assumed Hillary would win in 2016, and she would be as willing to oppose China as a 6 years old child would be willing to oppose Santa Claus.

4.) Since the successes of SpaceX with reusability, they have added the Long March 8 as an alternative backup reusable, though it won’t have the lift of a Falcon 9, much less a Falcon Heavy. They await SuperHeavy/Starship success before investing in a fully reusable launcher.

5.) As long as the Chinese government has the money, they can play this stern chase game. Still, “a stern-chase is a long chase” is just as true now as it was under sail on the oceans. What is *not* so clear is whether China will have all the money they had in the past to play political prestige games in Space, when US citizens are free to play high productivity market games instead of prestige. When Chinese citizens get hungry enough because even a small portion of the money for their food imports is being spent on high visibility Space prestige games where the US keeps innovating faster, then Space prestige games may get their budgets shortened dramatically.