Does China's space program threaten US?
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People's Daily, October 26, 2011
The successful launch of China's first space lab module Tiangong 1 has earned high praise of space experts from around the world. China will send the unmanned Shenzhou 8 spacecraft to space in the near future to dock with Tiangong 1, paving the technological foundation for the construction of a manned space station.
Exploring space is the common pursuit of mankind. The achievement of China's manned space program will surely be the common wealth of mankind. However, when space experts from around the world applauded the launch of Tiangong 1, talk of a Chinese "space threat" emerged in the United States.
Particularly, former NASA Administrator Michael Griffin recently said at a hearing of NASA's supervision committee that China has almost the same strength as the United States as a strong space competitor. He will be very concerned about the future of the United States if the country is no longer regarded as the world's leader.
Why are many Americans so sensitive to China's space achievements? David M. Lampton, the greatest U.S.-based living authority on China and director of the China Studies Program at Johns Hopkins University, said in an interview in January that Europe was facing economic problems, and Japan also had its own problems. The United States, while facing fewer problems than its allies, was still very sensitive. Probably this is why the Americans are so sensitive to China’s space achievements.
"A nation which at a particular moment in history finds itself at the peak of its power is particularly exposed to the temptation to forget that all power is relative. It is likely to believe that the superiority it has achieved is an absolute quality to be lost only through stupidity or neglect of duty," Hans Morgenthau, a renowned U.S. political scientist, wrote in his book "Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace."
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