China says it's close to completing its independent space station as Beijing and Moscow intensify a space rivalry with the US

China is on track to have its space station completed by the end of the year, according to Chinese state media.

The China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSE) said on Sunday that a new group of astronauts would be sent to the space station. The launch is expected to happen soon.

China will send two laboratory modules to the space station in July and October, according to information provided by theCMSE.

The final steps in the construction of the Tiangong are the modules and astronauts.

The agency will start developing use cases and applications for the station that will last over the next ten years after the construction of the space station is complete, according to the director general.

A brewing space rivalry

The completion of the "Celestial Palace", as it is called in Chinese, is likely to intensify a space rivalry with Beijing and Moscow on one side and the US on the other.

The only space station that is currently fully operational is the International Space Station. According to NASA, the US, Russia, Japan, Europe, and Canada work on the International Space Station.

Congress banned NASA from collaborating with China after it passed a law in 2011.

China is expected to be the only country to operate a space station.

Russia could be looking to leave the International Space Station and take part in China's Tiangong.

Russia and China are both interested in cooperating on space initiatives. At an October press conference, officials from the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology said they were looking forward to working with Russia and other space agencies. The US was not mentioned as a potential partner.

According to a December article from Chinese state media Global Times, Moscow officials have also promoted the potential of Chinese-Russian ties in space exploration while hitting back at what they view as the US' attempts at NATO-in-space.

The US is trying to spur global cooperation on space exploration. The Artemis Accords, a Washington-led initiative that proposes a governance structure for space exploration, was signed by Colombia on May 10.