To the moon and back: A critical space criminological perspective on Serbo-Chinese collaboration in lunar missions

This paper examines the collaboration between China and Serbia on lunar missions through a critical space criminological perspective. China’s ambitions to gain a permanent presence in Europe, demonstrated by its control of key transport hubs like the Port of Piraeus and the Port of Hamburg, have been strengthened by its collaboration with Serbia. This relationship is based on a strategic partnership and cooperation in international forums, supported by (geo)political ties, as well as military collaboration with Serbia, deploying the FK-3 air defense system. Moreover, Serbia has joined the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) program, which extends Serbo-Chinese ties into space. Building on the emerging field of space criminology, we propose to apply critical space criminology to explore how terrestrial geopolitical and economic struggles are extended and amplified into outer space in Serbo-Chinese relations. We deliver an analysis of how China’s terrestrial actions, such as its mineral mining investments in Serbia, may parallel its ambitions in outer space, which suggests that these cosmic ambitions have a complex relationship with Earth-bound conflicts. They hint at how power dynamics and neocolonial logics additionally might be reproduced and extended into a new frontier. Finally, based on the analysis, we point out that these global and cosmic dynamics could inform regional concerns in the Balkans more broadly, leading the way toward Balkan space criminology.