Now China is sending a man into space. Why?

International Herald Tribune ^ | October 10, 2003 | Joan Johnson-Freese, U.S. Naval War College

[Truth666]

Don't worry - the world will SOON see something REAL big.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

stealth method for militarizing space.

Bingo. China will place military weapons in space and blackmail the world. We taught them everything they know and they will enslave us for our trouble.

[Prodigal Son]

Out of curiosity, how do you feel about the X Prize?

[Prodigal Son]

Don't worry - the world will SOON see something REAL big.

What exactly? You mean like an attack on the US or what?

[Truth666]

So many countdowns going on .... The skies are the limit.
Personnaly I think the first launch will be directly related to this :
... because the Arctic follows the Antartic ...
But I am just a human - only God knows.

[DoctorMichael]

I say our R&D (paid for by the U.S.) needs to stay with us and used to our advantage.

Bump!........from someone in a position to know.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Out of curiosity, how do you feel about the X Prize?

I think it's great. Competition spurs development.

[johnny7]

We must understand clearly that there will be lasting peace in East Asia when, and only when, China abandons her atavistic fantasies of imperial hegemony, withdraws her armies from the 2 million square miles of other people's territory they currently occupy, and gets herself a democratic government under a rule of law.

Funny... this is the same stance we took with Japan in the mid/late 1930's. Same game just a different player.

[Prodigal Son]

Do you think there should be any restrictions at all on these private individuals (or companies) and what they do with the technology? It's a tricky question for me. Some of these individuals aren't Americans. Lets say though that this fellow Retan (?) gets a person up into space. He would effectively become the 4th Space Power on Earth (assuming China is successful- which remains to be seen). What sort of rules do you think should apply to that guy after that? Should he be allowed to collaborate with non-space powers in developing their own space program? Should he be allowed to emigrate to another country?

These are thorny issues actually. I don't have any answers for them myself.

[Valin]

America needs to unveil something spectacular to the world. And we'd better do it soon.


Or? What?

[harryK]

This is amazing. What the chinese are about to accomplish is what we already did in the 60's. So, where is the fear?
I know any country who even dares to try to reach the same power heights we are at. By very nature are a threat and they should be dealt with harshly. Don't forget they are decades behind us in every military category, and we are advance every day.

[Quix]

Good posts.

I'm convinced that certainly military and other matters are high on the list . . . but

THE OVERRIDING ONE IS

PRIDE.

They are determined to make this the

CHINESE CENTURY and to their minds and fantasies

THE CHINESE MILLENIUM.

They see the USA as going down to it's death or functional death and irrelevancy. They see themselves as king of the hill globally. They see it as their right and their obligation--at least to their people and culture . . . but . . . full of pride . . . also, their duty to 'liberate' the globe with the BETTER IMPERIAL BETTER LIFE OF THE CHINESE CULTURE etc. etc. etc. and etc.

[G.Mason]

My server went down as I was reading this, early this morning.

Re: Mad Mag. I'm getting that same feeling. [peaceful feeling coming on]

That thing still on the racks?

Might have to get a copy.

If it's like it was, many years ago, it's better than the local rag. LOL

[F.J. Mitchell]

"Now China is sending a man into space. Why?"

In search of more Wal'mart's?

[Technogeeb]

They are determined to make this the
CHINESE CENTURY and to their minds and fantasies

They may be right. Their long-term goal is not simply a space program, but a lunar colony; a concept the U.S. abandoned in the 1970s because of short-sightedness.

The Chinese think longer than we do. Imagine, knowing what you know now, that it is the 1800s, and as a colonial power you have the military and technical ability to claim all of the lands that are now Saudi Arabia, and that those lands are currently uninhabited, so all you would have to do is simply go claim them. Would you do it?

The moon has a resource far more valuable than the oil of Saudi Arabia. That resource is Helium-3, which isn't available in significant quantity on Earth. With it (and ordinary deuterium easily extracted from seawater) fusion becomes almost trivial. We have an essentially clean and practically limitless source of energy within our grasps, and we're going to give it away to the Chinese because we are too busy spending our childrens' seed corn on social programs.

[swarthyguy]

And the USA's Thirty Year Lead in manned space travel starts to be attacked by others.

When the Chinese get to the moon, rest assured they WILL claim it.

And the scenario will bowl us over; a crew will stay on the moon using their vehicle or part of it as a moonbase, until they are relieved or added to by more ships.

Bringing them back will not be a priority; establishing a permanent lunar presence will be.

Maybe the Chinese will restore the spirit of exploration they lost in the 15th and 16th centuries. The West, which undertook the great expeditions of Columbus and Vasco DaGama, which opened up the world, seems to have lost that spirit when it comes to space.

Ah, so, 4 Americans for dinner at the Golden Lunar Palace? This way, please.

[JohnSmithee]

"Don't forget they are decades behind us in every military category"

I thought they were up to date when it came to the modeling of nuclear weapons. They seem to be up to date in a number of areas, at least from the time the Clinton presidency ended.

[Dajjal]

BTTT

[RichardMoore]

The truly unnerving thing about China is that we are funding them when we shop at the mall. All those big corporations that have relocated there are helping us all to unwittingly fund the Chinese Military build up, and this space program is just a part of it.

If you had the good fortune to see A BEATIFUL MIND, a picture that won some awards a couple of years ago, you might have caught a glimpse of the paradigm that is opperant in todays "Global economy." We are letting China get ahead of us in the hope that they will accept second place with the rest of us. This hope is ill-founded!

[RightWhale]

If an American is asking why, then wait 5 seconds and the American will go away.