China earlier this month made it to to Mars, becoming only the second country to put a rover to the red planet. It¡¯s a breakthrough ¡ª scientifically, economically and politically ¡ª for a country increasingly focused on technological self-reliance.
Beijing¡¯s first such attempt, an orbiter launched by piggybacking on a Russian spacecraft in 2011, failed. A decade later, it has done a lot more ¡ª and achieved it alone.
The propaganda value of a landing on another planet, as the Communist Party prepares to celebrate its centenary, is not lost on Beijing. Reaping the soft power benefits abroad, though, will require more than headlines.
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