China and Russia are rapidly expanding their influence in the global space sector through what experts call 'space sector capture.' The Prague Security Studies Institute found that authoritarian space powers are using package deals to create dependencies in 28 countries, with China overtaking Russia as the leader in strategic space commerce between 1990 and 2026.

These deals typically include satellites, launch services, ground stations, and subsidized financing that compromise the sovereignty of recipient nations. Countries like Venezuela, Brazil, Nigeria, and Cambodia have accepted these offers due to limited capital and technical expertise. Venezuela exemplifies the trend, with China supplying all three of its satellites and Russia building ground stations at military bases.

The People's Liberation Army controls China's entire space program, creating a military-civil fusion that western investors must now navigate. With 644 entities and 807 deals analyzed across 125 countries, the scale of this capture is significant. The US and its allies face a strategic challenge as these dependencies translate into voting power in multilateral forums like the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.