A researcher is handling lunar samples in Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, on October 15, 2023. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

At a hearing about the new Artemis plan held by the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology on January 17, members voiced concern and urged the U.S. to beat China in returining to the moon, according to Space.com.

It's no secret that China has a goal to surpass the United States by 2045 as a global leader in space. We can't allow this to happen, representative Rich McCormick said during the hearing.

For a long time, the U.S. has pursued a strategy for dominance in space, and treating other countries as imaginary enemies in the process.

The Wolf Amendment explains why China and the U.S. didn’t work together in space. Passed by the US Congress in 2011, the law banned the U.S. government agencies such as National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from engaging in direct, bilateral cooperation with Chinese governmental or commercial agencies.

This law has generated much debate in the space community, said The Wall Street Journal(斜), “It’s not a total ban but it functionally serves the ban collaboration.” 

Then U.S. representative Frank Wolf said, “We don’t want to give them the opportunity to take advantage of our technology, and we have nothing to gain from dealing with them.”

Things have since changed. China's aerospace industry has made rapid advancements since 2016.  

The missions of the Shenzhou series rokets highlights the reality of China's technological breakthroughs, and the completion of China's Tiangong Space Station marks the country’s capabilities of its space program.

As the international space station is set to be retired before 2030, Victoria Samson, Washington director of Secure World Foundation, said,  “The international space station is going down, and the Chinese space station is going up. It indicates that things are changing and evolution of space is changing.”

Welcoming for foreign astronauts, China's Tiangong Space Station is the first project of its kind that is open to all UN member states and has already selected nine projects from 17 countries and 23 institutions for research purposes. 

Actually, China has always adopted an open and cooperative attitude towards U.S.space cooperation. In 2019, China exchanged data with NASA on its mission to land the Chang'e 4 spacecraft on the far side of the moon, “In what was reportedly the first such collaboration since an American law banned joint space projects with China that do not have prior congressional approval,” according to VOA news.

In November 2023, NASA-funded researchers, were granted permission to apply for access to China’s Chang’e-5 lunar samples in an exception to a prohibition on bilateral activities, which gave the space community see as a potential window to cooperate on future missions including the 2024 Chang’e-6 mission.

Space is the common property of all mankind, not the private property of the Americans, said Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

So has this Wolf Amendment helped or hurt NASA? If the U.S. really cares about the exploration of space and uses its achievements for peaceful purposes, it should partner with other countries in the world to jointly promote space technology.