She described the talks as “very interesting,” adding that they reflected China’s emergence as a leading force in global space.
“When you are powerful, people come to you to negotiate. In the past, no one came to talk about these issues,” Li said.
“When landing on the moon was solely an exclusive U.S. technological capability, (the U.S.) did not have to worry about ownership of the moon’s minerals or who would destroy its historic sites.
“Now that China is able to land on the moon, the United States has suddenly realized that these issues need to be discussed, and that’s why these concerns are coming to the fore.”
In 2020, the United States passed a law called the One Small Step to Protect Human Heritage in Space Act to protect American landing sites on the moon, but it only applies to the few companies that work with NASA.
The Yutu – or Jade Rabbit – is named after the animal that, according to Chinese mythology, lives on the moon with the goddess Chang’e, after whom China’s lunar program is also named.
It landed on the lunar surface in December 2013 and was the first rover to operate there since the Soviet Lunokhod 2 ceased operations in 1973.
The Chinese rover survived for more than 900 days, well beyond its expected lifespan of three months.
Its successor, Yutu-2, was the first rover to land on the far side of the moon in January 2019. It is still in operation, making it the longest-lived of all lunar rovers.
China and the USA are also racing to be the first country to send astronauts to the moon since the end of the Apollo program in the early 1970s.
But while the space program is a tremendous source of national pride in China, it also arouses a kind of conspiracy-theoretical nationalism.
It pointed out that the social media furor was based on a misunderstanding that someone had expressed about an incomprehensible remark made by a lunar scientist during a live television interview, and that there was ample evidence, including several kilograms of lunar samples collected by Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, to refute this statement.
