China furious over NASA head Bill Nelson's Moon hijack remark; calls him 'colonial-minded'

China has strongly responded to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson’s remarks suggesting that Beijing is planning to colonise the Moon. The Communist Party’s mouthpiece Global Times released a report wherein it called out “colonial-minded” Nelson for his ‘hypocrisy’ and accused him to be narrow-minded instead of being “mindful for the future of humanity”.

Earlier, in an interview with the daily Bild, Nelson had stated that he is "very concerned" about China's alleged plan to 'hijack' the Moon considering the pace with which China National Space Administration (CNSA) is advancing. Notably, it is the only space agency that has successfully landed a lander and a rover on the far side of the Moon, under the Chang'e-4 mission, which is forever in darkness and cannot be seen from Earth. 

Citing Song Zhongping, a Chinese military expert and TV commentator, and his statement, the Global Times reported that he believes the US has a colonial view of the Moon as opposed to China which is developing a community having a shared future for humanity.

China turns it on the US

Seemingly furious over Nelson's allegations that "China's space program is one military space program", and that they do not want to share the results of their research for lunar exploration, the Global Times blamed the US for blocking space weapons non-proliferation. Back in 2008, China and Russia had reportedly drafted the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space treaty, which following an amendment in 2014, was aimed to ban the deployment of weapons in space. (This is in reference to the cold war-era when the US deployed weapons on its satellites to threaten the USSR). However, this draft was rejected by the US twice, claims the Global Times.

It further accused the US of following double standards on various issues including space and accused Washington of trying to gain hegemony by 'monopolising technologies'. Another thing worth noting is that NASA's relationship with China has worsened over the last couple of months, especially after Nelson admitted that the space race between the two countries has already commenced. Nelson has also accused the CNSA of copying spacecraft designs from NASA, something which Beijing has vehemently denied.