WASHINGTON
— The heads of the U.S. and Chinese civil space
agencies will exchange visits next year to discuss potential cooperation in
space exploration, including human spaceflight, according to a U.S.-China joint
statement issued Thursday.
The
statement came as U.S. President Barack Obama was wrapping up his official
state visit to Beijing Nov. 15-18 for talks with Chinese President Hu Jintao. In the statement, the
two sides pledged to expand
cooperative ties in a number of areas, including space, civil aviation,
agriculture and health.
"The United
States and China look forward to expanding discussions on space science
cooperation and starting a dialogue on human space flight and space
exploration, based on the principles of transparency, reciprocity and mutual
benefit," the statement said, which was posted on the White House Web site.
"Both sides welcome reciprocal visits of the NASA Administrator and the
appropriate Chinese counterpart in 2010."
Then-NASA
Administrator Mike
Griffin traveled to China in 2006, marking the first such official visit by
the head of the U.S. space agency. The United States and China have maintained
low-level contacts and data exchanges relating to space activity for several
years, but not undertaken any joint missions. China, one of three countries
capable of independently launching people into space — the others are the United
States and Russia — is not a participant in the International Space Station
program.
advertisement
