China 'shocked' at U.S. shunning in space

[United Press International]

BEIJING, May 1 (UPI) -- The Chinese are "shocked" the United
States has given them a cold shoulder in space, a U.S. expert has
said.
China's official Xinhua news agency reported that Joan
Johnson-Freese, who chairs the National Security Decision Making
Department at the U.S. Naval War College, said one Chinese space
official she met on a recent trip to China was very emotional. The
official asked for U.S. recognition and cooperation.
"They are shocked that the U.S. is not reaching out to
them. They want very much to work with the United States," she said.
Johnson-Freese spoke at the 41st Space Congress in Cape Canaveral
last week.
The Chinese have even installed a docking ring onto
their Shenzhou spacecraft that would allow it to park at the $95
billion International Space Station, Johnson-Freese said.
China's launch complex in Inner Mongolia is on the same
parallel as NASA's Kennedy Space Center, allowing flights from there
to enter the same orbit with the space station.
The Chinese successfully launched their first manned
spacecraft last October, and expected Washington to become more
open.