The United States of America in its usual high-handed manner has snubbed Chinese advances for cooperation in space. That's gotta hurt their ego, especially when the reason they give is because "you're tech isn't mature enough, and we don't want to help you in anyway to get better because there's not anything like parity in level". Okay, admittedly, the capsule by which the Chinese sent their man into space strongly resembled a battered brass kettle, but then the Mercury capsule that sent the guys with the Right Stuff into orbit looked like a tin can too.
Despite this investment, and China's cautious approach to the launching of its manned missions, the U.S. remained unmoved. Questions over whether China's space effort is a civilian program, or a military endeavor that could eventually threaten the U.S., were reportedly responsible for the U.S.A's uncooperative reaction.So the US argument is, "you guys know just enough to be dangerous. Why make you more dangerous?" When in fact you know this is going to make them dangerous because it's essentially a case of "we're saying no because you are China, a country we don't trust on account of all you Chinese people being in charge of it". Yeah, okay. It might come back to bite them, but by then it might be a whole new kind of world. Who knows?
"China is at least two decades behind the U.S. in military technology and ability, Johnson-Freese said. But it is possible to develop military space technology through a manned program, there were discussions over whether China's piloted Shenzhou spacecraft could serve as a reconnaissance platform, she added.
The take-home message here is that a whole-world approach to space is a long, long, long way away, and that we shouldn't be kidding ourselves with the already rickety ISS.
- Art Neuro