After Chang'e-6 successfully returned to Earth, the "local products" carried by it also attracted the attention of the world, and many countries hoped to "share" this achievement with China.
In line with the original intention of jointly promoting the progress of the global aviation industry, China took the initiative to invite many countries to participate in the research, except for the United States, which is not happy.
In the field of aerospace, China has made remarkable achievements in recent years, such as Chang'e-5, which collected lunar soil samples from the far side of the moon and returned to Earth, inviting China to cooperate with international partners such as France, Italy, Pakistan and the European Space Agency, demonstrating China's openness to relevant scientific research results.
However, in this global feast of space research, the United States has been absent due to a series of domestic legal restrictions.
The main reason is its so-called "Wolf Clause," which since 2011 restricts NASA from using federal funds for any form of bilateral cooperation with China unless it has received prior approval from the FBI.
This clause not only exposes the hegemonic attitude of the United States towards Sino-US space exchanges, but also invisibly erects an insurmountable wall for cooperation between the two countries, causing obvious rifts in the road of jointly promoting human space exploration.
In the face of such restrictions, NASA spokesperson Feth Marco seems to have a lot of complaints, and even expressed strong dissatisfaction with China, believing that the United States missed the opportunity to participate in the analysis of rock samples brought back from the moon, which is not only a loss to American scientists personally, but also an obstacle to the common scientific progress of all mankind.
Against the backdrop of emerging global challenges, space exploration should be a bridge for cooperation, not a source of disagreement. For a long time, the United States' leadership in the space industry was unquestionable, but with the rapid rise of other countries, especially China, the pattern of competition and cooperation in the space field is undergoing profound changes. If it continues to prioritize ideological confrontation over scientific and technological cooperation, the United States may find itself increasingly lonely on the path of future space exploration.
In addition, the intensification of the hollowing out of the U.S. manufacturing industry and the frequent occurrence of technical problems in representative companies such as Boeing have put a question mark on the U.S. aerospace capabilities.
Under such circumstances, the extreme anti-China forces in Washington want to maintain their leading position by isolating China's aerospace industry, which is not only a wrong strategy, but also an irresponsible behavior for the common welfare of all mankind.
In this regard, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning has said that China has always maintained a positive posture in strengthening cooperation with the United States in space science and technology. However, the existence of the "Wolf Clause" and a series of other domestic laws and regulations in the United States has made cooperation between the two countries in this area difficult.
And this restriction does not stop at specific legal provisions. Over the past few years, the United States has not only restricted China's access to advanced technologies and services by placing Chinese space companies on the Entity List for export controls, but has also tried to restrict China's access to critical space technology and materials around the world.
In addition, the United States has used its leading position in global space standards development and international cooperation projects to restrict China's participation in international space cooperation. For example, the United States banned Chinese astronauts from participating in the International Space Station (ISS) program, eventually forcing China to develop its own space station.
There is no doubt that this series of practices of the United States has not only limited cooperation between the two sides on specific projects, such as lunar exploration and lunar rock research, but also created obstacles in terms of technology exchanges, standard-setting, and international cooperation. All this is not only a loss of space affairs between the two countries, but also a loss for all mankind on the road of exploring the truth of the universe.
In the future, if the US sticks to its strategy of "decoupling" from China, it will not only miss the huge opportunity to cooperate with China, but will also be more likely to be gradually marginalized in the fierce international competition. In this era of rapid information and rapid development of science and technology, only win-win cooperation and common progress can ensure that we are not abandoned by the times.