xi's moments
Home | Opinion Line

Wolf Amendment haunts US more now

By ZHANG ZHOUXIANG | China Daily | Updated: 2024-11-05 08:45

The US Capitol building is shrouded in haze in Washington, DC, the United States, on June 7, 2023. [Photo/Xinhua]

Although the United States wants to borrow lunar soil sample collected by China's Chang'e 6 lunar probe, the Wolf Amendment in the US prohibits the National Aeronautics and Space Administration from using government funds to engage in direct, bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government and/or China-affiliated organizations without explicit authorization from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Congress.

The Wolf Amendment is clear about denying China access to what the US had a monopoly over, such as the world's only lunar soil sample back then, or where the US had a very big say, such as at the International Space Station, which was the world's only space station in orbit back then. The US failed to consider the progress China was making in astronautics when it was drafting the Wolf Amendment, and now it has to pay for that misjudgment because the amendment disallows it from engaging in official collaboration with China too.

Even though an internal email sent by NASA at the end of 2023 claimed application to China's lunar sample was "necessary" because of its "unique value", the Wolf Amendment still prohibits collaboration with Chinese institutions that have the sample.

It is clear from this instance that the US' unilateralism extends to the astronautical sector. When it enjoyed a monopoly, it made amendments to ban collaboration with China, and now that its monopoly is gone, the amendment haunts them.

 

Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349