China rejected a claim from NASA Administrator Bill Nelson that it is set to take over the moon as part of a military effort, saying the remarks as an irresponsible smear statement, insisting that it had always called for the establishment of a community of nations in outer space.
China Accelerates Space Program
China has accelerated its space programme in the last ten years, focusing particularly on the exploration of the moon. In 2013, China made its first lunar uncrewed landing on the moon and looks at launching rockets powerful enough to send astronauts to the moon by the end of this decade.
On Saturday, German newspaper Bild published an interview with Nelson, who expressed concerns that "China is landing on the moon and saying: 'It's ours now and you stay out'." He alleged that China's space programme was a military effort and that country had illegally gained ideas and technology from others.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson, Zhao Lijian, was quoted by Reuters as saying that it was not the first time a NASA administrator "ignored the facts and spoken irresponsibly about China."
The U.S. has "constantly constructed a smear campaign against China's normal and reasonable outer space endeavors," he further said in the Reuters report. Zhao said, "China firmly opposes such irresponsible remarks."
According to Zhao, China has always promoted the establishment of a shared future for humanity in outer space and opposed military weaponization in space, he said.
Space has traditionally been kept as a non-militarized zone as part of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, an agreement for international space law. The treaty asserts that "outer space [including the moon] is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means."
NASA plans to send a crewed mission to orbit the moon in 2024 and make a crewed landing near the lunar south pole by 2025 under the space agency's Artemis program.
China is preparing uncrewed missions to the moon's south pole in the next ten years.
China has taken massive strides in its space program in recent years, having announced earlier this year that its Chang'e-5 lunar probe was the first to spot water signals from the Moon's surface. It also aims to be the first nation to take samples back from Mars.
U.S. Space Doctrine Undermines Efforts to De-militarize Outer Space
Unfortunately, Earth's divisive politics have reached outer space recently, with large space powers accusing and laying blame over the space weaponization. Though Nelson has warned of China's outer space militarization, the U.S. has a "Spacepower" military doctrine also undermines decades-long international effort to keep outer space as an un-militarized domain.
The 2020 military doctrine notes that space is both a "source and conduit through which a nation can generate and apply diplomatic, informational, military and economic power," and thus, the U.S. should "cultivate, develop, and advance spacepower in order to ensure national prosperity and security."
The doctrine also states that the U.S.'s "adversaries' actions have significantly increased the likelihood of warfare in the space domain," which is seen to refe to China's capacity for shooting down missiles in space and Russia's anti-satellite weapons exploits. While that may be true, the U.S. doctrine's rhetoric does not push for military de-escalation.
