Tensions between nations also arise in space.

China is bothered by American satellites: The government has now reportedly complained about near-collisions between its space station and SpaceX satellites.

Two satellites from the American company founded by Elon Musk came close to the "Tiangong" station in July and October and forced the astronauts on board to perform evasive maneuvers.

A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday in Beijing.

A collision with the space station would likely have "completely destroyed" and killed everyone on board, said astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

According to its own statements, the Chinese government informed UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres about the incident on December 3rd.

Accordingly, the US has not met its obligations under the space treaty.

"The maneuvering strategy was unknown and the errors in the orbit were difficult to assess," said Beijing about the incident in October.

Measures have been taken to "ensure the safety and life of the astronauts in orbit".

Calls for a boycott against Tesla

As a result of the incidents with the satellites of the SpaceX Starlink program, there are now also calls for boycotts against Musk's electric car manufacturer Tesla: calls for sanctions were shared millions of times in China's Internet services on Tuesday.

"How ironic that the Chinese buy Tesla and donate large sums of money so that Musk can launch Starlink, and then he [almost] crashes into China's space station," commented one user.

"Prepare to boycott Tesla," wrote another.

Some users speculated that the American government would have imposed sanctions if a Chinese company had threatened a US space station.

"Why don't we just do what they would?" Wrote one.

China launched its Shenzhou-13 spacecraft on October 16 and sent three astronauts on a six-month mission to its space station, Xinhua News Agency reported.

The space station "Tiangong" ("Heavenly Palace") was brought into space this year and should be fully functional in the coming year.

The country has already sent a rover to Mars and probes to the moon.

It's getting tighter in space

SpaceX's Starlink operates more than 1,700 satellites.

The aim of the program is to give large parts of the world access to the Internet.

"Since Starlink has been in operation, we've seen an increase in the number of close-by fly-bys," said astrophysicist McDowell.

Evasive maneuvers in the near-earth orbits would, however, generally become more and more necessary because more and more objects are crowding there.

Tesla sells one in four of its vehicles in the Chinese market.

The US manufacturer is one of the few foreign companies that operates a wholly owned plant in Shanghai.

Tesla received political concessions and extensive government support for the construction of the factory.

The rivalry between the US and China in space has intensified.

Earlier this month, a leading Chinese scientist said his country could possibly send astronauts to the moon for the first time by 2030.

President Joe Biden's chief space officer had drawn up a similar schedule for the new American lunar exploration, promising the prospect of a duel between two of the financially strongest space powers in the world.

Both China and the US are signatories to the space treaty, which holds states responsible for national space activities, regardless of whether they are carried out by governmental or non-governmental agencies.

It also states that states are liable for damage caused by their space objects.