G
Gravity_Ray
Guest
I was not a big fan of China's politics. I have done much business in China though and know quite a few Chinese businessmen. They are anything but communists, as a bunch they are very diverse and usually have a strong capitalistic spirit about them. I have enjoyed doing business with all of them that I have had dealings with. So personally I like them.
In the past however, I have worried about U.S. doing Space Flight cooperation with the Chinese space program (especially human space flight).
One reason is that the Chinese are incredible copiers. They can take your technology and make it their own very quickly and they don’t care too much about patents (well they care if they have to do business outside of China), but even then.
The second reason is that China is not an entirely stable country. It is actually about 40 or so countries tied together and could split apart if conditions are right. This is dangerous when you think about the technology that can be taken from space flight and applied to non-civilian space applications (military).
But lately I have been thinking about US / China relations in the field of Space Flight. Their advances in the field of Space technology cannot be denied. They are on their way to build a space station, and have very impressive plans to go to the Moon. For them its not so much about what they will do once there, but just the prestige of being the second country to do that.
So my question to you guys is: What do you think about cooperation with the Chinese in space?
Obviously there are several Republican senators that are extremely against the idea (http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1010/26boldenchina/). But are they being realistic about the future? Right now it doesn’t appear that NOT doing business with the Chinese has slowed them down at all since their space technology comes from Russia not the US. Wouldn’t this be a good way to engage them further and get into a more stable relationship with an obvious super power?
In the past however, I have worried about U.S. doing Space Flight cooperation with the Chinese space program (especially human space flight).
One reason is that the Chinese are incredible copiers. They can take your technology and make it their own very quickly and they don’t care too much about patents (well they care if they have to do business outside of China), but even then.
The second reason is that China is not an entirely stable country. It is actually about 40 or so countries tied together and could split apart if conditions are right. This is dangerous when you think about the technology that can be taken from space flight and applied to non-civilian space applications (military).
But lately I have been thinking about US / China relations in the field of Space Flight. Their advances in the field of Space technology cannot be denied. They are on their way to build a space station, and have very impressive plans to go to the Moon. For them its not so much about what they will do once there, but just the prestige of being the second country to do that.
So my question to you guys is: What do you think about cooperation with the Chinese in space?
Obviously there are several Republican senators that are extremely against the idea (http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1010/26boldenchina/). But are they being realistic about the future? Right now it doesn’t appear that NOT doing business with the Chinese has slowed them down at all since their space technology comes from Russia not the US. Wouldn’t this be a good way to engage them further and get into a more stable relationship with an obvious super power?