He also said that by 2035 Beijing might finish construction of its own Moon station and start experiments a year later…reports Asian Lite News
China has rejected claims by the US space chief that Beijing might be contemplating a “takeover” of the Moon as part of its military space program, and accused Washington of seeking to turn space into a “warfighting domain”.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told German newspaper Bild in an interview that the world must “must be very concerned” about China potentially “landing on the moon and saying, ‘it’s ours now and you stay out'”.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian responded to the accusations on Monday, saying that this was “not the first time that the head of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration has ignored the facts and spoken irresponsibly about China”.
“The US side has constantly constructed a smear campaign against China’s normal and reasonable outer space endeavours, and China firmly opposes such irresponsible remarks,” he added, claiming that China has always stood against weaponisation and promoted a shared future of humanity in outer space, RT reported.
When asked to clarify what military purposes China could be pursuing in space, Nelson said that Chinese astronauts are learning how to destroy other countries’ satellites, and claimed that the competition for the south pole of the Moon would be especially intense.
He also said that by 2035 Beijing might finish construction of its own Moon station and start experiments a year later.
Xi’s visit to Russia
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied media reports suggesting that Chinese President Xi Jinping refused to visit Russia.
“This is not true. This is completely untrue. The fact is that certain Covid restrictions in China continue, and this is absolutely normal, and this should be treated with understanding,” RT quoted Peskov as saying.
“And as all these relaxations of these restrictions allow, of course, all visits will be carried out,” he said.
Earlier, the media reported that the Chinese President refused to visit Moscow in response to the invitation from his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
As reported, the Russian leader invited Xi during a telephone call on June 15.
Peskov said that the country’s Ministry of Defence has its own plans in connection with the launch of the process of Finland and Sweden joining NATO.
“Such options are being worked out not in the Kremlin, but in the Ministry. We have already said many times that there are relevant plans there and work is being done to ensure our security,” Peskov said.
Thus, he answered the question whether the Kremlin is considering the option of placing a NATO base on the border with Russia and how Moscow can respond in this regard.
At the same time, Peskov added that Putin had already assessed the entry of Finland and Sweden into NATO.
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