When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, Mao Zedong reportedly scoffed that China could not even send “a single potato into space.” Nearly seven decades later, Beijing is not just a space power — it has become a launchpad for others, including countries across the Middle East that aim to piggyback off its success.

China’s transformation is visible in its own achievements. It has sent astronauts into orbit, landed rovers on the moon and Mars, deployed its homegrown BeiDou navigation system and built its own space station. Increasingly, however, Beijing is exporting those capabilities abroad, emerging as a key partner for Middle Eastern and North African states seeking to develop satellites, navigation services and space industries of their own.

That shift was on display on Dec. 10, when CAS Space launched its 11th Kinetica-1 rocket, carrying the United Arab Emirates’ 813 satellite and Egypt’s Space Plasma Nanosatellite Experiment into low Earth orbit. The mission was the latest in a growing list of Chinese launches placing Middle Eastern and North African satellites in orbit, including from Turkey, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Oman.

China’s presence in the region’s space sector today extends far beyond satellite delivery.