WASHINGTON – A Chinese official expressed willingness to cooperate with the United States in space exploration; It seems unlikely that this interest will be reciprocated.

Speaking at the Extraterrestrial Symposium held here on November 13, Zhou Guolin, advisor to the minister of science and technology at the Chinese Embassy, ​​said China is open to some level of cooperation with the United States on spaceflight, without going into details.

“China welcomes the participation of space agencies around the world, including of course the United States,” he said. “History has proven that isolation is not a solution, that cooperation is the only way forward.”

Interaction between NASA and China has historically been limited. This includes a visit to China by administrator Mike Griffin in 2006, as well as working group meetings from 2008 to 2010 on topics such as the exchange of Earth and space science data. This was largely disrupted by the 2011 Congressional passage of the so-called “Wolf Amendment,” which sharply restricted bilateral cooperation between NASA and Chinese organizations.

“This is sad,” Zhou said, but noted that “pragmatic” exchanges such as “cooperation on Mars probes” in 2021 have continued since then. This is a reference to an exchange between NASA and the China National Space Administration. Eliminating conflict between operations of China’s new Tianwen-1 Mars orbiter and existing NASA spacecraft there.

“Although China-US space cooperation has had many ups and downs, we are still optimistic and believe that with the wisdom and joint efforts of both countries, China and US space cooperation can overcome all obstacles, clear the clouds and see the sunshine,” he said.

Zhou did not present a formal proposal for space cooperation between China and the United States. Much of his speech reviewed China’s ongoing space activities and future plans, such as future missions to the moon and Mars “before 2030” and human moon landings.

The Wolf Amendment has persisted in annual appropriations bills since 2011, with little effort to repeal or significantly alter it. NASA’s current administrator, Bill Nelson, told a House committee in 2023 that he supports the provision.

“I think the Wolf Amendment as written is sufficient.” He said at a House appropriations hearing in April 2023:. “I think the Wolf Amendment is sufficient for the current situation.”

On other occasions, Nelson warned that China would land humans on the moon before NASA’s own return to the Moon, and suggested that China could lay claim to desirable locations at the Moon’s south pole and deny NASA access to them. He also used An image from China’s Zhurong Mars rover at a 2021 House hearing Warning the US that “we need to get rid of the duff” on lunar exploration.

“I would say NASA Administrator Nelson is about two degrees to the right of me on China. “It’s hard to be there, but he’s there,” said Greg Autry, the author of the book. Rising Red Moon Later that day, in an onstage interview at the symposium, he warned of a space race between China and the United States.

Autry, who served on the first Trump administration’s transition team in 2016 and is now vice chair of space commercialization and strategy at the University of Central Florida, has argued that he prefers competition to cooperation, arguing that the former encourages progress while the latter does not. .

This competition also includes manned missions to the moon, he said. “We cannot fail at this. “The Chinese will gain a great advantage if they return there first.”

The incoming Trump administration has not discussed space policy in any way since the November 5 elections, but has generally stated that it will take a tough stance against China. This includes the selection of Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), often described as a “China hawk,” as national security adviser.

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