中新网北京1月6日电(蒋鲤)近日，美国国家航空航天局(NASA)局长比尔•尼尔森宣称，中美“正处于一场太空竞赛”，还警告美国不要让中国“打着科学研究的幌子”抵达月球上的某个地方。
2022年12月13日，美国航空航天局局长比尔·尼尔森在华盛顿举行的美非领导人峰会太空论坛上发表讲话。这已经不是尼尔森第一次炒作“中国太空威胁论”了。在去年7月，这位NASA局长接受采访时公然声称小心“中国占领月球”；在美国众议院拨款委员会听证会上，要钱心切的尼尔森更是信口开河，声称中国很擅长“偷窃”美国的航天技术。
一直以来，中国航天事业的发展都遵循着独立自主、自力更生的道路，同时深化高水平国际交流与合作。中国官方已对外宣布，首批国际合作项目载荷将于2023年进入中国空间站，也在积极进行培训国外航天员的相关准备工作。
然而，中国秉承的开放共享发展理念被美国某些政客官员频频“抹黑”，究其深层原因，一是中国在航空领域的发展让美国感到压力——根据美国政治新闻网的报道，美国的阿尔忒弥斯计划依靠一系列仍在开发中的新系统和设备，如果出现任何重大延期或纰漏，都有可能使美国在登月方面落后于中国。而NASA的登月时间表从特朗普政府时开始已经推迟了一年。
为此，美国在国际航天合作上设置障碍，恣意制裁别国航天机构，出台法案限制与中国开展航天合作与交流，其双标做法不言而喻。
二是，美国根深蒂固的霸权思维和“尚争”文化作祟，不仅在经济、科技等领域打压中国，太空也被当成遏制中国的角斗场。
一旦把对方界定为竞争对手，与之“共存”的意愿和空间就会急剧压缩。为在航天领域称霸，美国早在2014年就启动所谓的“地球同步轨道空间态势感知计划”，对他国卫星进行监视窃听。
美国政府还公然将太空界定为“作战疆域”，组建太空军和太空司令部，大力研发部署进攻性武器，甚至和商业公司合作，来满足其国防和情报机构日益增长的需求。
挑动太空军备竞赛，加剧太空军事化风险，美国给太空和平与安全造成了重大挑战。作为负责任大国，美国应早日摒弃冷战思维，正确看待他国航天成就，积极探索太空国际合作，让太空造福人类，而非成为满足其称霸野心的擂台。
Hegemonic U.S. thinking pervades to space
(ECNS) -- NASA Administrator Bill Nelson recently declared that China and the U.S. were in a “space race” and warned that the U.S. better watch out that China doesn’t "get to a place on the moon under the guise of scientific research."
Nelson has peddled the "China threat" in space more than once. Last July, he blatantly claimed that China is trying to “occupy the moon,” and during a House Appropriations Committee hearing, the senior official said he wanted more money for NASA and alleged that China is "good at stealing" American technology.
China has long been taking the path of independence and self-reliance in its space development, while deepening high-level international exchanges and cooperation. It has made an announcement that the first batch of payloads of projects under international cooperation would be delivered to China's space station for experiments by 2023. Meanwhile, the country has been actively preparing for training foreign astronauts.
Frequent smearing by some U.S. politicians and officials of China's open and shared development in space may attribute to the following two issues.
On the one hand, the U.S. has felt the pressure as China's space technology has developed fast over the past years.
According to the U.S. media outlet Politico, the country’s Artemis I mission, which is counting on a series of new systems and equipment that are still under development, could risk falling behind China if there is any significant delays or mishaps. Besides, NASA’s moon-landing timeline has already slipped a year from the Trump administration.
As such, the U.S. has laid barriers on international space cooperation and imposed sanctions on other space agencies. It introduced bills to restrict space cooperation and exchanges with China, revealing its double standards.
On the other hand, deep-rooted hegemonic thinking of the U.S. and contention culture make it resolute in suppressing China in the fields of economy, science and technology, and even in space.
In order to maintain its hegemony in space, the U.S. launched a Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program in 2014 to surveil other countries’ satellites. It also recognized space as a "domain of war," establishing a space command center and space force, and developing and deploying offensive space weapons.
In addition, it has cooperated with private companies in order to meet the increasing demand of its national defense departments and intelligent agencies.
The U.S. is inciting the arms race in space, aggravating the risk of militarization of space and posing a major challenge to peace and security. It should abandon this Cold War mentality, actively participate in international space cooperation, and allow space to benefit humankind instead of making it a platform to satisfy its hegemonic ambition.