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Wolf Amendment

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The Wolf Amendment is a law passed by the United States Congress in 2011, named after then–United States Representative Frank Wolf, that prohibits the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) from using government funds to engage in direct, bilateral cooperation with the Chinese government and China-affiliated organizations from its activities without explicit authorization from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Congress.[1][2][3][4][5] It has been inserted annually into appropriations bills since then.

History

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In May 1999, the Report of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China was made public. It alleged that technical information provided by American commercial satellite manufacturers to China in connection with satellite launches could have been used to improve Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile technology.

In 2010, Rep. John Culberson urged President Barack Obama not to allow further contact between NASA and the China National Space Administration (CNSA). In a letter addressed to the President, he wrote:

I have grave concerns about the nature and goals of China’s space program and strongly oppose any cooperation between NASA and CNSA’s human space flight programs without Congressional authorization.[6][7]

In April 2011, the 112th United States Congress barred NASA from engaging in bilateral agreements and coordination with China.[1] As stated under Public Law 112–10, Sec. 1340:

(a) None of the funds made available by this division may be used for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration or the Office of Science and Technology Policy to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement, or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company unless such activities are specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of enactment of this division. (b) The limitation in subsection (a) shall also apply to any funds used to effectuate the hosting of official Chinese visitors at facilities belonging to or utilized by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.[1]

Effects

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In 2013, officials at NASA Ames prohibited Chinese nationals from attending Kepler Science Conference II. A number of American scientists boycotted the meeting, with senior academics either withdrawing individually or pulling out their entire research groups.[8] Rep. Frank Wolf wrote a letter to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, saying that the restriction only applied to bilateral meetings and activities between NASA and the Chinese government or Chinese-owned companies, whereas Kepler Science Conference II is a multilateral event.[9] NASA later reversed the ban and admitted a mistake in barring individual Chinese nationals who did not represent their government in official capacity.[10]

During China's 2019 Chang'e 4 mission, NASA collaborated with China to monitor the moon lander and Yutu 2 rover on the lunar far-side using NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. NASA was able to do so by getting congressional approval for the specific interaction and sharing data with researchers globally.[11] NASA stated:

The statutory prohibition on NASA’s use of appropriated funds for bilateral cooperation with China…does not apply to activities that NASA has certified to Congress, [which] do not pose a risk of resulting in the transfer of technology, data or other information with national security or economic security implications to China; and that do not involve knowing interactions with officials who have been determined by the U.S. to have direct involvement with violations of human rights. In accordance with the law, NASA made the appropriate certification to Congress for this activity.[11]

With the return of the Chang’e-6 lunar mission on June 25, 2024, China acquired rocks and soil from the far side of the Moon, a historic milestone with the potential to revolutionize understanding of the Moon's evolution and its capacity to support human life. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced that it would share these lunar samples with scientists worldwide, following the precedent set by NASA after the Apollo missions. However according to an article from Futurism, US scientists will be largely barred from participating in the analysis of these samples because of the Wolf Amendment, unless NASA first receives certification from the FBI, proving that there are no national security threats. Currently NASA is consulting with legal experts to explore the possible avenues for collaboration with China to analyze the lunar samples, while adhering to the existing legal framework.[12][13][14]

Status

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Fiscal Year Act Law Section Date Passed
2011 DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT 112-10 1340 2011-04-15
2022[15] Consolidated Appropriations Act 117-103 526 2022-03-15

Criticism

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Dean Cheng from The Heritage Foundation argued in April 2014 that more interaction with the Chinese is possible in the area of sharing already collected data, and that sharing data such as Geodesy information and lunar conditions may "help create a pattern of interaction that might lower some of the barriers to information exchange."[16]. Sir Martin Rees, the fifteenth Astronomer Royal of Great Britain, has called the ban a "deplorable 'own goal' by the US".[8]

The Chinese response to the exclusion policy involved its own space policy of opening up its space station to the outside world, welcoming scientists coming from all countries.[17]

The quarterly-published international relations journal Harvard International Review pointed out that although supporters of the Wolf Amendment claim that the law reduces the risk of US-China war in space, it does in contrary prove the US' own intents and actually increase the risk of war in space.[18]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AND FULL-YEAR CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2011". United States Congress. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  2. ^ Berger, Eric (17 December 2020). "China collects Moon samples, may not share with NASA due to Wolf Amendmen". Ars Technica.
  3. ^ Marshall, Will; Hadfield, Chris (15 April 2021). "Why the U.S. and China Should Collaborate in Space". Time.
  4. ^ Feldscher, Jacqueline (20 December 2020). "Biden space advisers urge cooperation with China". Politico.
  5. ^ "Trouble in the Stars: The Importance of US-China Bilateral Cooperation in Space". Harvard International Review. 27 October 2019.
  6. ^ John Culberson. "Bolden to Beijing?". United States House of Representatives. Archived from the original on 15 September 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  7. ^ "NASA chief to visit China". AFP. Archived from the original on 31 January 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  8. ^ a b Ian Sample. "US scientists boycott Nasa conference over China ban". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2013.
  9. ^ "Wolf Disputes Effect of Law on Chinese Participation in Kepler Conference - UPDATE". spacepolicyonline.com. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 22 November 2013.
  10. ^ Sample, Ian (11 October 2013). "Nasa admits mistake over Chinese scientists' conference ban". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Farside Politics: The West Eyes Moon Cooperation with China". Scientific American. 7 February 2019. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
  12. ^ "The Head of NASA Is Being Awfully Catty About China's Amazing New Moon Samples". Futurism. 2024-07-04. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  13. ^ "There's an Extremely Stupid Reason NASA Scientists Can't Study China's Amazing New Moon Rocks". Futurism. 2024-06-30. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  14. ^ Fisher, Kristin (2024-07-01). "NASA administrator weighs in on China's historic lunar far side samples — and potential US access". CNN. Retrieved 2024-07-09.
  15. ^ Jeffries, Hakeem S. (2022-03-15). "H.R.2471 - 117th Congress (2021-2022): Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022". www.congress.gov. Retrieved 2022-03-28.
  16. ^ "Heritage Foundation, Prospects for U.S.-China Space Cooperation, April 2014". Archived from the original on 2014-10-08. Retrieved 2014-10-31.
  17. ^ Kavalski, Emilian (2012). The Ashgate research companion to Chinese foreign policy. Rethinking Asia and international relations. Burlington, VT: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-4094-2270-9.
  18. ^ "Trouble in the Stars: The Importance of US-China Bilateral Cooperation in Space". Harvard International Review. 2019-10-27. Retrieved 2024-04-30. While proponents of the amendment claim that it reduces the risk of US-China war in space, the amendment proves contrary to its own intents and actually increase the risk of war in space. Traditionally, space has been a multilateral environment. Even during the Cold War, the United States cooperated with its primary competitors, demonstrated by projects like the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in which the United States and the then Soviet Union docked an American and Russian spaceship together in order to perform scientific experiments. And, even today, cooperation in space continues to expand on other fronts. The International Space Station and ongoing satellite development between nations, such as those within the European Union and China, have signaled the international community's intention to keep space cooperative and multilateral.
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