Astronaut calls for cooperation
China’s most renowned astronaut has said his country and the US should cooperate in space
China's most renowned astronaut has said his country and the US should cooperate in space
“I think the two countries should proactively implement the intent expressed in the joint communique to eliminate obstacles and promote exchange and cooperation in our space programmes,” Yang Liwei, now the vice director of the country’s Manned Space Engineering Office, said in a statement.
Efforts at US- China cooperation in space have failed in the past decade, stymied by economic, diplomatic and security tensions, despite a 2009 attempt by President Barack Obama and his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, to launch collaboration.
Obama and Hu, in a statement in November 2009, called for “the initiation of a joint dialogue on human spaceflight and space exploration, based on the principles of transparency, reciprocity and mutual benefit.”
US fears over national defence and inadvertent technology transfer have proven to be major roadblocks, particularly after Beijing carried out an anti-satellite test in January 2007, using a ground-based missile to destroy one of its inactive weather satellites.
China considers Yang as a hero of its ambitious space program and was the first from his country to go into orbit. His statement was however made during a carefully controlled media visit to China’s astronaut training facility in the western suburbs of Beijing.
