NASA chief Bill Nelson said in an interview with Bild newspaper that China could someday land on the moon and declare the satellite as its own territory.
Nelson said by 2035, China will complete the construction of its own Moon station and will launch several lunar missions
The top NASA official acknowledged that the US space administration has, in fact, been “very concerned” about China’s landing on the Moon and its agenda of hijacking the Moon.
The US should stop denigrating China’s space program, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said couple of days after NASA chief's comments.
“Some US officials continuously slander China’s normal and rational space activities. The Chinese side strongly opposes such irresponsible statements,” the diplomat said.
Zhao emphasized that China has always advocated the peaceful use of outer space and opposed militarization and an arms race in space.
The country began the construction of the multi-module Tiangong orbital station and successfully launched the Tianhe core module
Earlier, US Defense Intelligence Agency, Keith Ryder had said that Russia and China have plans to explore and exploit the natural resources of the Moon and Mars over the next 30 years.