US Experts Wants Greater Funding to Compete with China in Space.
Posted: February 19, 2015 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: China, space funding, space program, U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, US 18 CommentsChina’s gifted strategist Sun Tze says in his “The Art of War”:
Know oneself and one’s enemy, one is never in peril in war. Know oneself but not one’s enemy one has a half chance to win and a half chance to lose.
Reuters says in its report “U.S. must invest to keep ahead of China in space, hearing told”, that US experts want the US to make more investment in developing its space capabilities in order to maintain US position as “world’s dominant space power”.
US experts know the US quite well. They are aware that US space enthusiasm has faded since its success in landing Americans on the moon in 1969 so that its space program lacks fund now.
On the other hand, US expert Joan Johnson-Freese told Congress’s U.S-China Economic and Security Review Commission in a hearing, “China right now is experiencing its Apollo years,” and “China gets the funding it needs.”
US strategic goal is to remain number one in space and the US seems to know itself well regarding to its status as number one now and its lack of efforts to maintain the status and prevent China from catching up with and surpassing it.
Then, does greater investment in US Mars Program enable the US to counterbalance China’s efforts? No.
That is a strategic issue. However, what the US is afraid that China will do is utterly not what China wants.
US priority is to maintain its number one position. It believes that China is making efforts to grab from it that position.
For China, the number one position is utterly worthless. What China has already achieved is the capability to wipe out US navy if it comes near Chinese coast to help its ally Japan or the Philippines to attack China, but it lacks the capabilities to prevent the US from cutting China’s trade lifelines. Deprive the US of its dominance of the oceans is China’s priority. For that, China focuses on developing its integrated space and air capabilities for both attack and defense. China spends its funds mainly for that purpose. The funds it spends in purely civil space program are much less than its spending in acquiring the integrated space and air capabilities..
Moreover, China pays attention to bringing returns to its investment in is space program. It plans to set up a colony on the moon to take precious minerals back to the earth. It has a long-term plan for that.
The US, however, is entirely ignorant of the strategic goals of China’s space program. It makes efforts in its space program almost entirely for the maintenance of its number one position. It spends much less than China in developing integrated space and air capabilities.
The US knows only itself but not China; therefore, the US only has a half chance to win.
As long as China does not pursue number one position in space, the US will be satisfied and will not keep its efforts in space. That is why once the US obtained its number one position after it landed its astronauts on the moon and found that there was no competitor in space, it reduced the funding for its space program to the minimum. That was why the US has made no efforts to set up a colony on the moon since it landed its astronauts on the moon.
Now, Europe and even India are making efforts to explore Mars and other remote planets. If the US allocates more funds for its space program now, it will mainly use the funds for its Mars program.
China refrains from competing with other countries’ space programs related to Mars and other planets as it knows well US space strategy and wants the US to know that it has no intention to replace the US as number one in space.
China’s space program focuses first of all on its national security to safeguard its trade lifelines. Secondly, its spending on its space program is an investment that may be very profitable when it is able to exploit the precious natural resources on the moon.
As a result, due to US ignorance of China’s strategic goals, even if US increases its funding for its space programs, the US will not counterbalance the capabilities that China will achieve.
The following is the full text of Reuters report:
U.S. must invest to keep ahead of China in space, hearing told
China’s space program is catching up with that of the United States and Washington must invest in military and civilian programs if it is to remain the world’s dominant space power, a congressional hearing heard on Wednesday.
Experts speaking to Congress’s U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said China’s fast advances in military and civilian space technology were part of a long-term strategy to shape the international geopolitical system to its interests and achieve strategic dominance in the Asia-Pacific.
They also reflect an enthusiasm for space exploration which in the United States has faded since the Apollo Program which landed Americans on the moon in 1969, they said.
“China right now is experiencing its Apollo years,” Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor at the U.S. Naval War College, told the hearing. “China gets the funding its needs.”
While the budget of the U.S. space agency NASA has been cut substantially, China’s space program has benefited from its economic boom and political support from President Xi Jinping down, said Kevin Pollpeter, a China technology expert at the University of California-San Diego.
“They are also able to program out their activities into five-year plans and 15-year plans and this gives them a long-range goal to work with,” he told the hearing.
“If the United States is to remain the leading space power then it must continue to invest in both its civilian and military space programs.”
Dean Cheng, of the Heritage Foundation think tank, said the U.S. space industrial complex is failing in long-term planning and is aging compared to China’s. It is particularly lacking in Chinese speakers with the scientific skills needed.
“China’s space industrial workforce is perhaps the youngest of the space industrial powers,” Cheng added. “They will be working at this for a long time. Innovation at the end of the day does tend to come from young people.”
Xi has said he wants China to establish itself as a space superpower, but Beijing has insisted its program is for peaceful purposes.
Fears of a space arms race mounted in 2007 after China blew up one of its own weather satellites with a ground-based missile.
Source: Reuters “U.S. must invest to keep ahead of China in space, hearing told”
Hі there, I enjoy reading through yоur article pօst.
I wanted to write a little commеnt to supƿort you.
LikeLike
Nice post. I was checkingg continuously this blog and I’m inspired!
Extremely useful information specially the remaining part 🙂 I care forr such indo much.
I wass seeking this particcular info for a long
time. Thanks and good luck.
LikeLike
I have published two books, both with ebook version:
Tiananmen’s Tremendous Achievements
Space Era Strategy: The Way China Beats The U.S.
LikeLike
Magnificent items from you, man. I’ve take note your stuff previous to and you’re just extremely wonderful.
I really like what you have bought here, certainly like
what you’re stating and the way in which you say
it. You’re making it entertaining and you still take care of to stay it wise.
I cant wait to learn far more from you. That is actually a terrific website.
LikeLike
Unquestionably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason appeared to be on the web
the easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get irked while people
consider worries that they just don’t know about.
You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing
without having side-effects , people can take a
signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks
LikeLike
Very energetic post, I enjoyed that bit. Will there be a part 2?
LikeLike
Spot oon with this write-up, I absolutely believe this amazing site needs a great deal more attention. I’ll probably be back
again to read through more, thanks for the advice!
LikeLike
Thank you for the good writeup. It in fact was a amusement account it.
Look advanced to more added agreeable from you!
By the way, how could we communicate?
LikeLike
This paragraph is really a good one it assists new net visitors,
who are wishing for blogging.
LikeLike
What i do not realize is actually how you
are now not actually a lot more smartly-appreciated than you might be right now.
You’re so intelligent. You realize therefore considerably on the subject of this
matter, made me individually consider it from numerous
varied angles. Its like women and men aren’t fascinated except it is something
to accomplish with Lady gaga! Your own stuffs nice.
All the time handle it up!
LikeLike
I think this is among the most important info for me.
And i’m glad reading your article. But should remark
on some general things, The web site style is perfect, the articles is really great : D.
Good job, cheers
LikeLike
Hello, I wish for to subscribe for this webpage to get
hottest updates, thus where can i do it please help.
LikeLike
Follow chankaiyee2 or tiananmenstremendousachievement at wordpress.com
LikeLike
First off I want to say superb blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you
do not mind. I was interested to find out how you center yourself and clear your thoughts prior to writing.
I’ve had a tough time clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out.
I truly do enjoy writing however it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are generally lost simply just trying to figure out how to
begin. Any recommendations or tips? Thanks!
LikeLike
constantly i used to read smaller articles or reviews
that also clear their motive, and that is also happening
with this post which I am reading at this place.
LikeLike
Wow, superb blog layout! How long have you been blogging for?
you make blogging look easy. The overall look of your site is great, as well
as the content!
LikeLike
It’s enormous that you are getting ideas from this article
as well as from our argument made at this time.
LikeLike
[…] US Experts Wants Greater Funding to Compete with China in Space (tiananmenstremendousachievements.wordpress.com) […]
LikeLike