NASA Chief Says Ban On Chinese Partnerships Is Temporary

An anonymous reader writes: Current head of NASA Charles Bolden has spoken out against the 4-year-old ban on collaborating with China. According to Bolden working with the Chinese is vital to the future of space exploration. Reuters reports: "The United States should include China in its human space projects or face being left out of new ventures to send people beyond the International Space Station, NASA chief Charles Bolden said on Monday. Since 2011, the U.S. space agency has been banned by Congress from collaborating with China, due to human rights issues and national security concerns. China is not a member of the 15-nation partnership that owns and operates the station, a permanently staffed research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth, but Bolden says working China will be necessary in the future."

Comments

abysmal human rights records

[iggymanz]

or maybe China should stop torturing its citizens, throwing political opponents (and their spouses sometimes) into psychiatric institutions or putting under house arrest , oppressing certain minority groups, etc. etc.

Re:abysmal human rights records

[drinkypoo]

Yeah, they should torture its citizens the way we do it (solitary confinement) and manipulate politics the way we do it (through the media, and institutionalized vote fraud) and oppress only the minorities we oppress, etc. etc.

I mean, I'm with you on China, but we should clean our own house first

Re:abysmal human rights records

[AmiMoJo]

Maybe the US should stop torturing people, oppressing certain minority groups, fix the corruption in its politics etc. All countries have problems, and one of the best ways to address them is to work with them on neutral projects like space exploration so that there can be a cultural exchange. All the time the two cultures are seen as incompatible and unable to work together, it is easy to reject ideas about human rights as something western and non-universal.