China concluded 2025 with a record 92 orbital launches, sparking commentary on its growing space ambitions and perceived lead over other nations like India. While launch numbers are a visible metric, experts suggest space power is better defined by a nation's ability to reliably place, sustain, and protect assets in orbit, integrating them into economic and security systems. China's surge is attributed to megaconstellation deployments and a robust launch provider ecosystem, but raw launch counts can oversimplify distinctions between experimental and operational missions.