A soft power strategy to preserve non-sovereignty from Chinese land claims on the moon 

The United States’ goal of completing a crewed moon mission before China has been coined as the new space race, reminiscent of the days of Apollo. Similar to Apollo and the space race with the Soviet Union, the principle of non-sovereignty is at issue as is the rule-based international order. The issue of non-sovereignty in particular is of concern given China’s claims of sovereignty in the nine-dash line region of the South China Sea in contravention of UNCLOS and other norms of customary international law. This behavior will likely be mimicked with the moon, especially if China lands humans on the lunar surface before a U.S. return. This scenario is becoming increasingly likely.