China aims to build a scientific research station in the south polar region of the moon and realise an orbiting space station in about ten years, said a senior space official on Wednesday. The People’s Liberation Army “looks at space as a new strategic high ground,” said Dr Michael Raska, who studies security and defence issues at RSIS in Singapore. An increased presence in space will be vital for “anything for early warning, surveillance, reconnaissance, targeting… nearly every military mission out there is relying on some sort of space capability.”