Rep. Wolf Reaffirms Opposition to Space Cooperation with China

Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), chairman of the House appropriations subcomittee that funds NASA, restated his well known opposition to U.S. space cooperation with China at a hearing of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission today.

The commission was created by Congress in 2000 to report on the national security implications of the trade and economic relationships between the two countries. It held a hearing today about the implications of China’s military and civil space activities. Witnesses included DOD’s Greg Schulte and Rep. Wolf as well as two panels of experts. Rep. Wolf’s statement was circulated by his staff. He began by expressing disappointment that NASA declined to participate in the hearing and that it was “reflective of this administration’s abysmal record on American leadership in space.”

He went on to restate his well known views about why the United States should not cooperate with China because of human rights abuses and Chinese arms sales to countries like Iran, for example. He asserted that Presidential Science Adviser John Holdren told his subcommitee at a hearing last week that the Obama Administration does not intend to comply with a provision Wolf included in the Continuing Resolution that prohibits spending funds to work with China in any manner to plan or execute space cooperation. “I take this blatant disregard for the law very seriously and the committee is currently reviewing its options,” he said.