collaborate with China on civilian space projects but will
not pursue broad engagement with the military-dominated Chinese space program,
NASA's chief administrator said Monday.
Michael
Griffin, who arrived in Beijing on Saturday, is the
highest-ranking NASA official to visit China. His trip - which he called "a
first date" - represents a turnaround for Washington, which has largely shunned
contacts with the secretive Chinese space program, and follows personal lobbying by China's
president for the
exchanges.
In a step forward, Griffin
told reporters that NASA was setting up working groups with the China National Space
Administration to explore cooperation on climatic research and robotic
exploration.
"We believe it might be a
productive thing to do and we're going to explore it,'' he said.
Griffin, however, ruled out
open-ended collaboration with the Chinese agency because of its close ties with
the Chinese military.
"NASA is unable to
cooperate with a military-based space program,'' he said. Despite Washington's
misgivings, he said the U.S. wants to see a quicker pace in cooperation between
the two space programs.
NASA's tentative outreach
to China follows the European Union's more wholehearted embrace, welcoming the
Chinese space program as a partner in an expensive effort to set up a satellite-based
global positioning system.
Griffin met Sunday with his
Chinese counterpart, Sun Laiyan, the civilian director of the CNSA, which has
carried out two successful manned space flights and is preparing for a third
launch as early as next year.
Sun gave Griffin a copy of "The
Analects,'' a 2,000-year-old collection of sayings by the Chinese philosopher
Confucius. Sun told Griffin the classic could help him run the U.S. space
program.
"If you read just half of
this book, it will help you manage NASA very well," he said. "You will find the
strategy.''
Griffin gave Sun the
Chinese and U.S. flags that flew on a NASA space
shuttle mission last July.
On Monday the official Xinhua
News Agency quoted Sun as saying he had offered Griffin a four-point
proposal to boost space cooperation between the countries.
It includes holding annual
meetings on possible joint ventures, and defining specific areas for
cooperation.
Earlier, Griffin tried to
downplay expectations about the trip, saying it was only a "get-acquainted
session'' with Chinese officials.
China's first manned
space flight in 2003 made it only the third nation after Russia and the
United States to fire a human into orbit on its own. China's second
manned flight took place last October.
China has tried to make its
program appear more open, letting U.S. officials and foreign reporters visit
its Beijing mission control center and the Gobi Desert launch base for its
manned flights.
The Chinese Foreign
Ministry said last week that Beijing hopes for closer collaboration with the
United States, Russia and other governments on space efforts.
"We hope that through such
ties, we could establish a stable and friendly cooperation in outer space and
explore the possibility of the peaceful use of outer space,'' ministry
spokesman Qin Gang said.
During his stay, Griffin
was scheduled to meet with Chinese Minister of Science and Technology Xu
Guanhua, give a talk at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and tour the National
Satellite Meteorological Center in Beijing. Griffin also is to travel to the
launch base in the isolated Gobi Desert town of Jiuquan.
advertisement
