WASHINGTON, United States: China is boosting its space capabilities and is using its civilian programme to cover its military objectives, said the head of the U.S. space agency Wednesday, cautioning that Washington must remain vigilant.
“China has made extraordinary strides especially in the last 10 years, but they are very, very secretive,” Bill Nelson, the NASA administrator, told lawmakers on Capitol Hill.
“We believe that a lot of their so-called civilian space programme is a military programme. And I think, in effect, we are in a race,” he added.
He hoped China would “come to its senses and understand that civilian space is for peaceful uses,” and added: “We have not seen that demonstrated by China.”
NASA administrator’s comment came as he testified before the House Appropriations Committee on NASA’s budget for the next fiscal year.
He said the US should land on the moon again before China does, as both countries pursue lunar missions, but he expressed concern that were Beijing to arrive first, it could say: “‘OK, this is our territory, you stay out.'”
The US is planning to put astronauts back on the moon in next two years with its Artemis 3 mission. China is hoping to send humans to the moon by 2030.
The head of the U.S. space agency was confident that the USA would not lose its “global edge” in space exploration.
“But you got to be realistic,” he said. “China has really thrown a lot of money at it and they’ve got a lot of room in their budget to grow. I think that we just better not let down our guard.”
