BEIJING (Reuters) – China on Monday dismissed a NASA chief’s warning that China could “take over” the moon as part of a military program, saying it has always called for construction of a community of nations in space.
China has accelerated the pace of its space program over the past decade, emphasizing lunar exploration. The country conducted its first uncrewed moon landing in 2013 and plans to launch rockets powerful enough to send astronauts to the moon later this decade.
“We have to worry about the possibility that China could land on the moon and say, ‘It’s ours now and you don’t come in,'” Nasa Administrator Bill Nelson told German newspaper Bild. , in an interview published on Saturday.
The head of the US space agency has said China’s space program is a military program. He added that China had stolen some ideas and technologies.
“This is not the first time that the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the United States has ignored the facts and spoken irresponsibly about China,” said Zhao Lijian, spokesperson. word of the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“The United States has consistently built a smear campaign against China’s normal and reasonable efforts in space, and China strongly opposes such irresponsible remarks.”
China has always encouraged building a common future for mankind in outer space and opposed its militarization and any arms race in outer space, he added.
NASA, as part of its Artemis program, plans to send a crewed mission to orbit the Moon in 2024 and perform a crewed landing near the lunar south pole in 2025.
China is planning uncrewed missions to the Moon’s south pole this decade.
(Reporting Martin Quin Pollard, written by Ryan Woo; French version Charlotte Lavin, editing by Kate Entringer)
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