China's space achievements get US cold shoulder

The Chinese, who launched their first astronaut into space 
last year, are "shocked" that the United States has not welcomed 
them into the community of space-faring nations.

Joan Johnson-Freese, who chairs the National Security Decision 
Making Department at the US Naval War College, said, "They are 
shocked that the US is not reaching out to them. They want very 
much to work with the United States."

The Chinese went so far as to build a docking ring onto their 
Shenzhou spacecraft that would allow it to park at the 
International Space Station which is being jointly run by the US 
and Russia.

China's expectations ran into a wall of US suspicion that the 
Chinese program could someday pose a threat to the US domination 
in satellites used for military communications, reconnaissance 
and tracking.

However the Europeans have taken a different attitude and are 
eager to work with China. China is already participating in the 
European Union's Galileo constellation, a rival to the US Global 
Positioning System.

Joan Johnson-Freese warns that if the US falters it could undergo 
something similar to the "Sputnik shock" experienced after the 
Soviet Union became the first nation to launch a satellite into 
Earth orbit in 1957.

"What if, in 10 years, the Chinese are on their way to the moon 
and the US effort is diminishing", she asked.