The next time humans set foot on the moon, they may well plant a five-starred red flag there. The Chinese space program is developing rapidly, and further progress should come this year when taikonauts, a colloquial term for Chinese astronauts, visit the Tiangong-1 space module.

The president’s chief science adviser John Holdren has said the U.S. would benefit from cooperation with China. The two countries could tackle the problem of space debris and, possibly, lay groundwork for a joint mission to Mars. His thinking fits with the Obama administration’s so-called Asian pivot, a shift in focus from the Middle East to China’s growing influence; the idea is that science and technology cooperation could be a useful lever in negotiations.

But federal legislation now prohibits NASA from pursuing any such joint efforts. The relevant clause first popped up last April in a stopgap funding bill, and in November it reappeared in the legislation funding NASA for 2012. The author of the provision is Representative Frank Wolf of Virginia, who cites China’s human-rights record and the threat of espionage. The “Wolf clause” has already had a visible effect: journalists from the state-owned Xinhua News Agency were barred from a shuttle launch last year.

One widely held concern is just who would be on the Chinese end of a hypothetical manned mission with the U.S. It is clear that the People’s Liberation Army plays a major role in China’s space missions, says Dean Cheng, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. “It begs the question of whether there is a civilian manned space program in any meaningful sense of the word,” he says.  

Many believe that limited collaboration, such as on unmanned missions, would be constructive. “We found ways to cooperate with the Soviet Union during the cold war,” says Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.  “I don’t see why we couldn’t do similar types of things with China.”

So the White House is pushing back, trading legal memos with congressional investigators on the constitutionality of the Wolf clause, which also binds Holdren’s Office of Science and Technology Policy. Although a court battle seems unlikely, a spokesperson says that Wolf plans to keep a close eye on Holdren and his colleagues in the coming year and “hold their feet to the fire” to ensure compliance.

10 Comments

1. 1. dbtinc 08:27 AM 1/23/12

   sure, why not? As long as it's balanced in its approach to cost and benefit.

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2. 2. David N'Gog 09:10 AM 1/23/12

   It is impossible to know when it will happen- but eventually China will replace the US as the global authority and major force.
   
   It may be that China will undergo an evolution to better human-rights and freedoms - gradually respecting the rest of the world more (as happened in the West) and/or it come be China becomes a global bully (as also happened with the West).
   
   The upside is that co-operating with China we could probably influence them culturally. Certainly it would eliminate some animosity between the countries- however slight.
   
   The downside is- China of today is not a country I would trust having equal or better space technology than our own. China of today strikes me more of a 18th/19th Century Britain or France more than a 20th or later 21st Century Britain or US.
   
   China's interests are purely for the benefit of the mother-country; this is not yet mixed with a degree of respect for other nations (something we in the West have improved on- but not enough ourselves yet).
   
   

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3. 3. alan6302 10:10 AM 1/23/12

   NASA is predicted to suffer a quick death .Something about incompetence

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4. 4. geojellyroll 02:42 PM 1/23/12

   The United States of Paranoia.
   
   

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5. 5. dubina 06:33 PM 1/24/12

   I would be wary of partnering with China in space or trying to keep pace with China in space. What I see and surmise is that "space exploration" for peaceful purposes (eg. colonization of the Moon and Mars) have become fanciful ideas that serve to employ people and resources; they are ultimately more self-serving than beneficial to the nation and the world at large. It is not fashionable to think so here or in China, but China is more likely to use its continued and growing involment in space exploration to its propaganda / psychological advantage.
   
   Are we grown-up enough as a nation to eschew pointless space grandstanding? Not if you listen to Santorum and Newt. Still, I think we are more astute to that reality than the Chinese. I would wish them well in their future space bubble and let them go it alone.

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6. 6. JenniferProkhorov 02:51 PM 1/25/12

   We have one biosphere to clean up, one outer space to clean up, one globalization process, one interconnected set of oceans and seas, and one internet. Where on Earth has the question, "should we work together?" been coming from?

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7. 7. mhenriday 02:57 PM 1/26/12

   If ever the proper answer to a question were a «no-brainer», it must the response to this one. Is there anyone - with the possible exception of Frank Rudolph Wolf - who really believes that such problems as the planet's gravity well or the amount of radiation to which craft which venture beyond its protective magnetic field are subject belong to and can be resolved by the efforts of one small segment (approximately 5 %) of mankind ? Of course the US and NASA should be collaborating with all comers - not merely ESA, Roskosmos, and JAXA, but with CNSA (China), ISRO (India), and all others who possess both the desire and the ability to contribute to this great task ? While the United States is at it, it might want to consider ceasing its practice of starting foreign wars (utterly destructive of the most basic of all human rights, the right to live) and devote a minor fraction of the financial and human capital thus saved to forwarding space research ; think of the benefits such a step would bring to all mankind !...
   
   Henri

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8. 8. HubertB 09:35 PM 1/27/12

   For years China has been making a number of parts for various contractors in the American and European space programs. While final assembly has been performed by the sub contractors in the United States, Europe, or Japan, China has gained tremendous knowledge.
   Yes, it took rocket scientists to figure out how to put those parts together to make their own rockets. They did not need to start in their own back yards as did earlier scientists. China knows how to make all our parts for their space program. They can not steal our secrets. They already have them.
   Unlike Russia of the cold war, China does not seem interested in spreading an ideology but in making money. They have ruthless leadership pursuing their goals. The government gives special consideration to the wealthy and runs roughshod over the poor.
   Americans do not approve of their techniques and constantly complain about how the government treats their citizens but understand their attitudes.
   No real practical reason exists why the US and China should not cooperate in outer space.

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9. 9. bucketofsquid 09:32 AM 2/1/12

   Aside from the isolationist jerks I doubt that there are many that can come up with reasons not to work with China. The real question is; Why would China want to work with us? We are on the way down as far as share of global economy and technology growth. China is on the way up. Eventually our growth rate will slow enough and theirs increase enough that they will catch us. It is just a matter of when.

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10. 10. rwstutler 09:09 PM 2/4/12

    Should the US collaborate with China in space? Sort of begs the question, does China want to cooperate with the US?

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