NASA has no ties with China, but shares technology and training principles with Russia to effectively operate the station from Moscow and Houston. Analysts suggest Russia could funnel that information to China.

Any improvements in Chinese rockets means more reliable and more threatening Chinese nuclear missiles.

"The Chinese space program is a military program using military hardware and overseen by the military," said Charles Vick, space policy analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Federation of American Scientists.

For now, NASA can only watch the growing relationship from afar. A March 2000 e-mail obtained by Florida Today through the Freedom of Information Act revealed one way NASA Administrator Dan Goldin is learning about the growing friendship between the massive neighbors. The document was obtained through an appeal process after NASA first denied its release.

"When I was in Moscow last week, there was a public announcement by Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov that Russia and China are negotiating a deal for Russia to develop a manned space craft for China, and for joint use of Russia's GLONASS satellite navigation system," Jesco von Puttkamer said in his e-mail.

Von Puttkamer is a technical advisor for the space station and has been with NASA for more than three decades.

"Apparently, according to an RSC-Energia spokesman, RSC-E expects to play 'the leading role' in Russia's effort to help China's manned space program," he said.

Energia is the corporate side of the Russian Space Agency. It built and managed the Mir space station and builds the Soyuz and Progress capsules for space station Alpha.

China sought Russian help in 1995 to jumpstart its manned space program. The Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft is a larger version of the Russian Soyuz.

China wants to launch its first astronauts next year, then build a space station. The communist program also calls for an eventual moon base. The third unmanned test of the Chinese space capsule could launch within weeks.

Complicating things further is a tense relationship between Beijing and Washington that shows no signs of changing. Russia and China have condemned U.S. plans to build a missile defense system and have stepped up relations throughout the two governments. Both have pledged to build up and improve their own nuclear weapons stockpiles.

Human rights issues and China's refusal to stop selling ballistic missiles to other nations keeps NASA from inviting the Chinese into the space station program.

Australia-based China observer Steven Pietrobon said the relationship between Russia and China could mean more stability for the International Space Station.

"I don't think NASA should be perturbed, but NASA probably is," Pietrobon said. "If Russia can earn some money from the Chinese, this is good because this will give stability to a key partner in ISS."

NASA, however, will have to watch that Russia doesn't violate agreements by sharing American technology with Chinese scientists, he said.

"I guess how much NASA should worry would depend on how much NASA trusts Russia to maintain its agreements," Pietrobon said.

Russia has not reneged on a deal with NASA outright, but provoked an intense debate in April when it decided to fly American millionaire Dennis Tito to space station Alpha onboard a Soyuz rocket. NASA and the other project partners fought the flight, but Tito went anyway.

There should be no doubts that China is pursuing a manned space program largely to benefit its armed forces, analysts said. The Chinese government, which refused repeated interview requests, contends its space program is peaceful.

Vick said Chinese astronauts orbiting in a space station could make up for the country's lack of photographic spy satellites.

"I would expect them to be doing nothing else other than photo-reconnaissance and intelligence gathering," Vick said. "They will do some civilian and scientific work, that will be the front."

Rick Fisher, China analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based Jamestown Foundation, said China's People's Liberation Army will look to the manned program to make its missiles and rockets more reliable and to test electronics that would be used in new spy satellites.

Aside from the obvious military threat, more reliable Chinese rockets mean increased competition for American aerospace companies like The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin. That could mean reduced business for Cape Canaveral.

The Chinese can sell their Long March rockets much cheaper than American companies, but the Asian launchers have been too unreliable or underpowered compared to their American counterparts.

The Long March 3, for example, could lift about the same payload as a Boeing Delta 2, but all three missions failed. The improved versions have enjoyed total success, but carry less than half the weight of other rockets.

That too is changing as China perfects its Long March 5, which it used to launch the unmanned tests of the Shenzhou spacecraft.

While the technology aspects are what concern NASA and the American government the most, Fisher said the impetus behind the Chinese surge is an attempt to prop up the ruling communist party.

"For its propaganda purposes, the manned space program is worth its weight in gold to the communist party," he said. "The manned space program is first and foremost a nationalist tool, which the communist party will use to strengthen its nationalistic credentials."

Statements from the Chinese government signal similar sentiments.

The government issued its space program blueprint in November 2000, showing the nation regards the effort much the way the Soviets and Americans saw their own during the Cold War: as an avenue to show off technical prowess.

"Now, China ranks among the most advanced countries in the world in many important technological fields," the Chinese government said.

The nation has built the Jiuquan launch center at the edge of the Gobi Desert complete with a smaller version of Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building.

Though China talks about a lunar mission, observers don't expect one for at least 15 years. They are divided on whether such an attempt would signal a new space race with NASA.

Pietrobon said a Chinese moon flight is impossible until the Chinese develop a rocket similar to the Saturn 5 that carried Apollo astronauts.

"I don't see the U.S. twiddling its thumbs while Taikonauts are hopping around the moon's surface," he said. "This won't happen for awhile yet, (but) the Chinese are interested in the moon."

Fisher said it would be a surprise for the Chinese to reach the moon, and doubted anything less than a permanent Chinese moon base would cause concern to the rest of the world.

"We were there first, so who cares?" he said. "If China were to endeavor to put something more permanent on the moon, that would be very serious."

Published under license from FLORIDA TODAY. Copyright © 2001 FLORIDA TODAY. No portion of this material may be reproduced in any way without the written consent of FLORIDA TODAY.