China’s growing military prowess dominated global headlines in 2021. Beijing’s fast-paced developments — be it the innovation in hypersonic technology, indigenous aircraft, or naval power — took the world by surprise and sent the alarm bells ringing in the West.

The EurAsian Times takes a look at five big developments in China’s weapons research and development.

Chinese Manned Space Agency (CMSA) is in the process of constructing a space station, called Tiangong, in the low Earth orbit (LEO). This construction gained a major milestone in May this year when Beijing launched Tianhe, the first module of the orbiting space station.