US scientists plan exodus to China amid funding concerns

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-10-27

Chinese astronauts return to Earth on June 26 after completing a space mission
aboard the Shenzhou-10 spacecraft. (Photo/Xinhua)

American scientists are thinking of flocking to China to continue their research because of funding shortages back home, reports the Global Times, a tabloid under the auspices of the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.

According to a report from Forbes, one-fifth of American scientists have been planning to move overseas since March due to the risk of a government shutdown over the failure to enact legislation appropriating funds for the fiscal year 2014 — sparked by the controversy over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. One professor from George Mason University in Virginia even said that his laboratory could be shut down unless he moves it to China.

The feared US government shutdown eventually became a reality between Oct. 1 and Oct. 17, forcing 97% of the 18,000 staff at NASA to take leave from work and shut down the agency's website.

French newspaper Le Figaro reported that in the past 10 years, China's ambitious space program has been expanding while NASA's programs have been suspended or even canceled by the American government due to budget constraints. The article said it is clear that the US has not been prepared for China's leaps in aeronautics and can only defend its position by insisting that the Chinese are still significantly behind the Americans and Russians in terms of technical capabilities.

US military website Defense One said space is not only the final frontier but it may also be the new war front. US Space Times magazine notes, however, that China has very little actual flight experience, with only five manned space missions over the last 10 years.

Lu Jianing, deputy director of the Fast East Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that for Chinese leaders, grabbing the lead in the space race is more about honor than gaining any real strategic or military advantage. For China, Lu said, it is about proving that a society with Chinese characteristics has the ability to come out on top in one of the most complex areas of competition. When China's space program finally surpasses the US and Russia is when a new world superpower will be born, he added.

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