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<ul class="summary-list"><li>China just showed off its second dragon-themed tunneller, which it said will drill an undersea railway.</li><li>It's touted by China as the world's longest undersea high-speed railway tunnel.</li></ul><p>China's state-run railway giant on Monday revealed the second of its dragon-themed tunnel-boring machines for what it says is the longest undersea rail channel in the world.</p><p>The Yongzhou machine, unveiled at China Railway Construction's Changsha facility, was given a "Dragon of Fortune" paint coat to commemorate the Year of the Dragon, per <a target="_blank" href="https://weibo.com/2803301701/O2nRMBKJf?refer_flag=1001030103_">state media The People's Daily.</a></p><p>Another grand tunneling machine, the Dinghai, was also painted to resemble a dragon and was <a target="_blank" href="https://english.news.cn/20240110/c4e3c8146b88443599dee46ab528d058/c.html">unveiled at the same facility in January.</a></p><div type="image" title="Workers record the tunnel boring machine TNM Dinghai at an industrial park of China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Corporation Limited in Changsha, central China's Hunan Province, Jan. 10, 2024." height="5411" width="8117" msid="108035328" hostid="261" sizebytes="5396098"></div><p>State media said both machines would be used to drill the Jintang undersea tunnel, a railway channel about 10 miles long that runs as deep as 255 feet below the seabed.</p><p>The Jintang undersea tunnel has been lauded by Chinese media as "the world's longest undersea high-speed railway tunnel," but that title might be up for debate. </p><p>Japan's <a target="_blank" href="https://www.railway-technology.com/projects/seikan-tunnel/">Seikan high-speed railway tunnel</a> includes a longer underwater stretch, which is 14.5 miles and passes under the Tsugaru Strait. It is limited to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.railjournal.com/passenger/high-speed/jr-hokkaido-seeks-higher-speeds-in-seikan-tunnel/">speeds of 100 miles per hour.</a></p><p>The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.getlinkgroup.com/en/our-group/eurotunnel/channel-tunnel/">Channel Tunnel</a>, which connects England and France, boasts an even longer underwater section of about 23.5 miles, and its railway operates at a maximum speed of around 100 miles per hour.</p><p>But the Jintang tunnel is part of the larger <a target="_blank" href="http://www.xinhuanet.com/politics/2020-11/02/c_1126687828.htm?baike">Ningbo-Zhou railway,</a> which is 47 miles long in total and designed for speeds of up to 155 miles per hour. That would make the Ningbo-Zhou the world's longest high-speed railway tunnel with an underwater section.</p><p>It would enable rail travel between Zhoushan Island, China's third-largest island, and the country's east coast.</p>

China unveiled new dragon-themed drillers that it hopes will build the world's 'longest undersea high-speed railway tunnel'

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container float_right"><div class="image on-image"></div><p></p></div>China has seemingly shifted gears in a bid to bring the disputed Senkaku Islands under its control, Hiroyuki Akita <a href="http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/Chinas-new-Senkakus-tactic-Fleets-of-fishermen">reports</a> for the Nikkei Asian Review. </p>
<p>The Senkaku Islands are an uninhabited island chain administered by Japan in the East China Sea. Despite the islands' lack of a human population, it is believed that vast undersea oil reserves are located around the islands. The islands are also in a particularly plentiful fishing area. </p>
<p>China is now using its fishing industry to bolster its claim over the islands. </p>
<p>As the Nikkei Asian Review <a href="http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/Policy-Politics/Chinas-new-Senkakus-tactic-Fleets-of-fishermen">notes</a>: </p>
<p style="padding-left: 30px;">From January to September, the Japan Coast Guard told Chinese fishing boats operating within Japanese waters around the Senkaku Islands to leave on 208 occasions, a 2.4-fold jump from last year and 26 times larger than the figure for 2011.</p>
<p>China has drastically increased the number of fishing vessels that it is permitting to sail into the disputed area - at the same time that it's scaling back the number of its surveillance ships operating around the island chain. </p>
<p>China is attempting to use civilian vessels to erode Japan's claim over the islands. It's an insidious but possibly effective strategy. It normalizes the activity of Chinese vessels around the island chain, while the lack of any overt military involvement allows Beijing to claim a veneer of respect for Japan's territorial integrity. </p>
<p>This change of strategy bears a striking similarity to China's process of slowly eating away at disputed territory along its border with India.</p>
<p>Since the 1960s, China has <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-slowly-been-eating-away-at-india-2014-9">slowly been moving</a> its soldiers into disputed areas along the countries' shared border at a pace that is never drastic enough to warrant a military reaction. Ov<span style="line-height: 1.5em;">er the years, China has made gradual yet substantial territorial gains.</span></p>
<p>It is possible that the change of Chinese strategy in the Senkaku Islands follows a similar line of thought as in India. It's part of a plan to slowly expand influence through measures that advance Chinese policy without being provocative enough to warrant a military response. </p>
<p>China's disputes between Japan over the Senkaku Islands, as well as between various nations over the South China Sea, has the potential to destabilize southeast Asia, and even the broader world along with it. In September, one Chinese professor at a military academy <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/michelle-florcruz-maritime-disputes-will-lead-to-world-war-iii-2014-9">warned</a> that these maritime disputes could eventually lead to a third world war. </p>

Here's China's Latest Tactic In Its Attempts At Taking A Disputed Island Chain From Japan

<ul class="generic-article__summary--ul content--ul"><li class="generic-article__summary--li content--li">Three B-2A Spirit bombers sent to Diego Garcia in British Indian Ocean Territory for the first time since 2016.</li><li class="generic-article__summary--li content--li">Aircraft’s presence designed to intimidate Beijing as it ramps up its live-fire military exercises. </li></ul>The US Air Force has deployed three B-2 stealth bombers to the tiny island of Diego Garcia in <keyword id="9271473" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="the-indian-ocean">the Indian Ocean</keyword> for the first time since 2016, as <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3097218/chinese-military-held-drills-near-taiwan-us-health-secretary" class="link-text"><br /><strong>SEE ALSO: <br /></strong></a><strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/heres-how-indias-74th-independence-day-celebrations-will-take-place-this-year/slidelist/77523536.cms">Here’s how India’s 74th Independence Day celebrations will take place this year</a><br /><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/careers/news/how-much-deloitte-kpmg-ey-and-pwc-accountants-and-consultants-make-from-entry-level-to-executive-roles/articleshow/77533447.cms">How much Deloitte, KPMG, EY, and PwC accountants and consultants make, from entry level to executive roles</a><br /></strong><a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/science/news/a-dwarf-planet-between-mars-and-jupiter-has-a-salty-ocean-beneath-its-surface-making-it-a-contender-for-alien-life/articleshow/77495476.cms"><strong>A dwarf planet between Mars and Jupiter has a salty ocean beneath its surface, making it a contender for alien life</strong></a><br />

Amid tensions with China, US stealth bombers are back at a secretive Indian Ocean base for first time in years

<p><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"></span><p></p></span></span>A terrorist attack on US soil, an armed confrontation in the South China Sea, and a war between Azerbaijan and Armenia are just three of the 34 geopolitical risks that t<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">he Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) has included in their interactive </span><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/">Global Conflict Tracker</a><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"> for the upcoming year.&#xa0;</span></p>
<p>Each year CFR releases the Global Conflict Tracker in an attempt to forecast worldwide global events that would affect the US and its interests.&#xa0;</p>
<p>CFR surveyed more than <span>2,200 government officials, foreign policy experts, and academics</span>&#xa0;in an attempt to best understand the risks facing the US based on both its likelihood of a given event to occur in 2015 along with its possible impact on US interests. High impact events are those that would directly threaten US territory, trigger a US military response, or threaten the supply of a critical resource.&#xa0;</p>
<p>We have briefed the top five threats in Asia, starting with the potentially most severe, with links to CFR's analysis for further details.&#xa0;</p>
<h3><strong><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=13">Armed Confrontation In The South China Sea</a></strong></h3>
<h3><strong><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=13"></a><span class="source"><span>Noel Celis//Reuters</span></span><span class="caption">A Philippine Navy personnel mans a .50 caliber machine gun during the bilateral maritime exercise between the Philippine Navy and U.S. Navy dubbed as Cooperation Afloat Readiness and Training (CARAT) in the South China Sea near waters claimed by Beijing June 29, 2014. </span></span><p></p></span></span></strong></h3>
<p><em><strong>Moderate likelihood; high impact</strong></em></p>
<p>China's claims to the South China Sea, along with the estimated 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in the sea bed beneath, has led to frictions between a group of powerful competing claimants that include Malaysia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia.</p>
<p>The overall cause of concern is that the US may be drawn into conflict with China through a defensive treaty it currently has with the Philippines.&#xa0;</p>
<h3><strong><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=5">Crisis In North Korea</a></strong></h3>
<h3><strong><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=5"></a><span class="source"><span>Ed Jones / Getty</span></span><span class="caption">North Korean soldiers</span></span><p></p></span></span></strong></h3>
<p><em><strong>Moderate likelihood; high impact</strong></em></p>
<p>Kim Jong-Un's purges of the political elite in North Korea have led to an increased risk of unrest in the country, perhaps in the form of a coup attempt or some other kind of internal disruption. Pyongyang has also continued to develop and test nuclear weapons, raising tensions through the region. The US estimates that at minimum the North has enough plutonium to create five nuclear weapons.&#xa0;</p>
<h3><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=11"><strong>Sino-Japanese Confrontation In The East China Sea</strong></a></h3>
<h3><strong><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=11"></a><span class="source"><span>Stringer China/REUTERS</span></span><span class="caption">Fishing boats are seen departing from Shenjiawan port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province towards the East China Sea fishing grounds, September 17, 2012. </span></span><p></p></span></span></strong></h3>
<p><em><strong>Low likelihood; high impact</strong></em></p>
<p>China and Japan remain embroiled in a competition over the ultimate sovereignty of the Senkaku Islands, an increasing focal point for nationalist sentiments on both sides. Military escalation between the two nations would risk drawing the US into a conflict with China after Obama stated that the US-Japanese security pact covers the islands.&#xa0;<a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=11"><br /></a></p>
<h3><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=18">Confrontation Between India And Pakistan</a></h3>
<h3><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=18"></a><span class="source"><span><a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indian_Army_BMP-2.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></span></span><p></p></span></span></h3>
<p><em><strong>Low likelihood; moderate impact</strong></em><em style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"><br /></em><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;"></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 1.5em;">India and Pakistan have engaged in three wars since their independence from Britan, two of which were fought over the disputed region of Kashmir. The nations have stuck to a shaky ceasefire since 2003 although exchanges of artillery fire in October quickly heightened tensions again. Both sides have also invested heavily in nuclear technology and developed new long-range missiles.&#xa0;</span></p>
<h3><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=27"><strong>A&#xa0;Clash Between China And India</strong></a></h3>
<h3><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=27"><strong><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"></span><p></p></span></span></strong></a></h3>
<p><em><strong>Low likelihood; low impact</strong><br /></em></p>
<p>China and India share the world's longest disputed border with both countries claiming land near Kashmir and south of Tibet. Border disputes led the two nations to war in 1962. Since then, India has frequently complained of Chinese troops slowly pushing further and further into disputed territory.</p>
<h3><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=36"><strong>Ethnic Unrest In China</strong></a></h3>
<h3><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=36"><strong><span class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><span><span data-post-image="" class="image on-image"></span><p></p></span></span></strong></a></h3>
<p><em><strong>Moderate likelihood; low impact</strong><br /></em></p>
<p>China's Uighur-dominated Xinjiang Province is still a source of potentially instability. The Uighurs, a Muslim Turkic group, face various forms of discrimination from a heavy-handed Chinese government. Increasingly, Uighurs have taken to public demonstrations and, in some cases, terrorist attacks throughout China to further the goals of greater autonomy within China or even independence.&#xa0;</p>
<h3><a href="http://www.cfr.org/global/global-conflict-tracker/p32137#!/?marker=36">You can read the full report here»</a></h3>

Here Are 6 Possible Nightmare Scenarios For 2015 In Asia

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Stringer China/REUTERS</span></p><p class="caption">Fishing boats depart Shenjiawan port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province toward East China Sea fishing grounds, September 17, 2012.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul class="summary-list"><li><strong>Chinese fishing vessels are trawling the world's oceans to feed their country's appetite for seafood.</strong></li><li><strong>That has brought those vessels into conflict with foreign coast guards and navies.</strong></li><li><strong>In South America, it's further straining countries' resources and fisheries, according to a report by a US military website.</strong></li></ul><p>China's "insatiable appetite" for seafood is straining the limited abilities of South American countries to enforce their maritime boundaries, according to <a href="https://dialogo-americas.com/en/articles/voracity-chinese-fishing-vessels-threaten-latin-american-seas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a December 13 article in Dialogo</a>, a website run by US Southern Command.</p><p>Countries on the Atlantic and Pacific coasts have been affected, and most of the illicit fishing activity in those areas is done by Chinese vessels.</p><p><span>Juan Carlos Sueiro, fisheries director for Peru at the ocean conservation and advocacy organization Oceana, told Dialogo that Peru and Argentina saw "the largest congregation of these vessels in the world."</span></p><p><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>(Argentine Coast Guard via AP)</span></p><p class="caption">An Argentine soldier fires at a Chinese fishing boat in Argentine waters, February 22, 2018. Argentine ships pursued the vessel, but the chase was called off after nearly eight hours.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p>"It's not that they can't fish in international waters, but their close presence generates controversy. For example, Oceana already identified vessels entering into Peruvian waters without a license or with duplicated ID," Sueiro <a href="https://dialogo-americas.com/en/articles/voracity-chinese-fishing-vessels-threaten-latin-american-seas" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>.</p><p>"Refrigerated fishing vessels can be found in international waters to transfer their captures, fuel, and supplies," he said, adding that transshipment activity, which can launder profits from illegal fishing, had also been detected.</p><p><em>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/navy-weighs-p-8-poseidon-deployment-to-alaska-to-track-russia-china-2018-12" data-analytics-position="10">The US Navy is thinking about sending advanced sub-hunting planes to Alaska to keep a closer eye on Russia and China</a></em></p><p>Officials and experts have warned that rising demand for fish and increased competition over dwindling stocks could spark new conflicts. Many of them have pointed specifically to China.</p><p>Fishing stocks around China have <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8bd1373a-12df-11e8-8cb6-b9ccc4c4dbbb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">shrunk dramatically</a>. But Beijing has expanded its distant-ocean fishing fleet, and those vessels have been involved in disputes as far afield as Argentina, where the coast guard has <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2016/03/15/americas/argentina-chinese-fishing-vessel/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">sunk</a> and <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/argetina-coast-guard-shoot-chinese-boat-fishing-water-jing-yuan-626-a8230096.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">fired at</a> them, and in Africa, where Chinese firms <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/8bd1373a-12df-11e8-8cb6-b9ccc4c4dbbb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">are building</a> fish-processing facilities.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>(South Korean Mokpo Coast Guard via AP)</span></p><p class="caption">A Chinese fishing boat after the South Korean coast guard fired a flash-bang grenade at it to stop it off Hong Island, South Korea, September 29, 2016. Three Chinese fishermen were killed.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><p>In a September 2017 article, retired US Navy Adm. James Stavridis and a coauthor <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-fishing-wars-are-coming/2017/09/13/05c75208-97c6-11e7-b569-3360011663b4_story.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">noted</a> that Beijing was spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually to subsidize its long-range fishing fleet and that its coast guard often escorts those ships while they fish illegally.</p><p data-elm-loc="5">"As such, the Chinese government is directly enabling and militarizing the worldwide robbing of ocean resources," they said.</p><p data-elm-loc="5">In September 2018, US Coast Guard Cmdr. Kate Higgins-Bloom <a href="https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/09/12/food-fight-illegal-fishing-conflict/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote</a> that "t<span>he odds that a squabble over fishing rights could turn into a major armed conflict are rising."</span></p><p data-elm-loc="5"><span>Countries overplaying their hand with fishing and fisheries enforcement in contested waters and increasingly aggressive responses to illegal fishing were two ways that conflict could develop, Higgins-Bloom wrote, adding that </span>"p<span>olitical leaders of rising powers will feel enormous pressure to secure the resources their citizens demand - even if it means violating international norms and rules."</span></p><p data-elm-loc="5"><span>Indonesia has <a href="https://www.straitstimes.com/asia/se-asia/indonesia-blows-up-and-sinks-another-81-fishing-boats-for-poaching" target="_blank" rel="noopener">blown up</a> boats caught fishing illegally, including a Chinese vessel, and the country's fisheries minister <a href="https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2169153/china-calls-it-fishing-indonesia-calls-it-crime-pudjiastuti" target="_blank" rel="noopener">has said</a> what Chinese fishing boats "are doing is not fishing. It is transnational organized crime."</span></p><p data-elm-loc="5"><span>"There's no need to worry [about conflicts with other nations] as we have government vessels protecting us," a Chinese fisherman <a href="https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2109469/chinese-fishing-fleets-threaten-inflame-tensions" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in September 2017, after the expiration of a fishing ban in the South China Sea.</span></p><p data-elm-loc="5"><span><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Teadlased_j%C3%A4%C3%A4l.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span></p><p class="caption">Chinese icebreaker Xue Long conducts operations at an ice-flow camp in the Arctic.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span>The Arctic, where retreating ice has increased interest in commercial shipping and resource extraction, could also become a venue for that competition.</span></p><p>"I think the Chinese are very interested in the potential protein sources, the fishing stocks," in the Arctic, Heather Conley, <span>senior vice president for Europe, Eurasia, and the Arctic at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Business Insider in late 2018.</span></p><p><em>Read more: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coast-guard-arctic-freedom-of-navigation-exercise-polar-star-russia-2018-12" data-analytics-position="12">The Coast Guard turned down a request for an Arctic exercise out of concern the US's only heavy icebreaker would break down and Russia would have to rescue it</a></em></p><p>Nine countries, including China, and the EU signed an agreement in late 2017 prohibiting commercial fishing in the central Arctic for 16 years to allow study of the region - a deal meant to ensure there's sufficient information to fish manageably "when these decisions have to be reached," Conley said.</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">"We're seeing anecdotal evidence of fishing stocks traveling north to get to cooler waters," Conley added. "China certainly wants to ensure that ... they're not excluded from" those potential fishing grounds.</span></p><h2>'Confronting the Chinese voracity'</h2><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>(AP Photo/Kanwa)</span></p><p class="caption">The Indonesian navy blows up foreign fishing boats off Batam Island, Indonesia, October 20, 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;">US Coast Guard officials have said they are on good terms with their Chinese counterparts when it comes to fisheries enforcement, though they are <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tillerson-arctic-late-to-the-game-china-russia-2017-11" target="_blank" rel="noopener">paying attention to what's going on</a> in the North Pacific Ocean.</span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span>Commandant Adm. Karl Schultz told Business Insider in October that the Coast Guard has "a good, functional working relationship" with China, describing an incident when the two services cooperated to stop a high-seas drift-netter, which uses massive nets to scoop up fish without regard to limits on what species can be caught.</span></span></p><p><em><span style="font-weight: 400;">Read more: </span><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-coast-guard-crews-take-down-drug-smugglers-on-the-high-seas-2018-11" data-analytics-position="3">Coast Guard crews are capturing record amounts of cocaine - here's how they chase down high-seas smugglers</a></em></p><p>"We identified that ship and responded with a Coast Guard cutter. It was a few hundred miles off the nearest mainland in that part of the world. The Chinese came out. It was a Chinese flagship, very cooperative," Schultz said. "We had a Chinese ship-rider on our Coast Guard ship. We turned that ship over to the Chinese for prosecution."</p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span>In South America, however, "the fight is not easy," even with cooperation among countries in the region, Dialogo cautioned in the December 13 article.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><span>"China clearly intends to exploit regional seas, and many species already suffer the consequences," the article adds. "Confronting the Chinese voracity for marine resources requires a regional commitment that can't wait."</span></span></p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/why-dragon-fish-expensive-2019-1">These expensive Asian fish cost as much as a new car - and people have gone to jail trying to sell them in the US</a></h3>        <div>                    </div>    </div>

The US military is warning that China's fishing boats are bullies and could start a war on the high seas

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>REUTERS</span></p></div><p></p></div></div>NASA isn't in serious trouble, but it has flat-lined. </p><p>NASA's leadership in space exploration is what makes it one of the most inspiring and beloved agencies, but some feel that NASA has gotten stuck. It's budget isn't declining, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/opportunity-survival-nasa-budget-cuts-2015-3">but it's not growing either</a>. And if we're not careful, other space programs are going to step up and fill the role of space exploration leader.</p><p>One up-and-coming contender is China. China's space program is showing the same kind of explosive growth as its economy,<span style="background-color: #ffffff;"> said</span> Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona, during an <a href="Chris Impey, an astronomy professor at the University of Arizona,">interview with NPR's Fresh Air host Terry Gross</a>. That means it has grown roughly 10% a year for the past decade. While that amount is slipping a little and will likely slow down in the next few years, the bottom line is that China's space program is expanding, and NASA's is starting to flounder.</p><h3>China makes its debut</h3><p>It's easy to forget about China when it comes to space exploration. It didn't launch its first satellite until 1970, after the U.S. had already put several<span style="background-color: #ffffff;"> in orbit and</span> even landed men on the moon. <span><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">China didn't even send a t</span></span>aikonaut (China's word for astronaut) to space until 2003. And since the beginning of its space program, China benefited a great deal from Russian technologies, Impey <span style="background-color: #ffffff;">wrote</span> in his book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beyond-Future-Space-Chris-Impey/dp/0393239306">Beyond: Our Future in Space</a>." For example, China use to buy old Russian rockets and reverse-engineer them.</p><p>That's all changing quickly though.</p><p>"But now the Chinese are innovating and vaulting ahead," Impey writes. "Their <a href="http://www.space.com/21957-china-rocket-engine-test-space-station.html">Long March rocket</a> is original and has quickly eclipsed Russian rockets."</p><p>And innovation is one of the most important things China has going for it, Impey said.</p><p>"And they're actually - unlike the one of the stereotypes that they're just sort of copying our technology - they're actually innovating," Impey says during NPR's interview. "They have very young engineers in their space program - very keen, very well trained, very ambitious."</p><p>It's channeling that ambition into a laser-focused purpose: lunar exploration.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span><a href="http://shanghaiist.com/2013/12/16/china-flag-on-moon.php">News.cn via Shanghaist</a></span></p></div><p></p></div></div>In 2013, China <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/china-has-landed-on-the-moon-2013-12">landed its Jade Rabbit </a>rover on the moon.</p><p>It was the first time anything human-built had touched the moon's surface in nearly 40 years. Since then, China has successfully tested several <span style="background-color: #ffffff;">lunar </span>orbiters and landers <span style="background-color: #ffffff;">in hopes of </span>sending humans to the moon, which it says it can accomplish by 2022. There's even rumor of a collaboration between China and Russia to set up a lunar base.</p><p>NASA is focused on Mars, and getting humans there by the 2030s. <span style="background-color: #ffff00;"><span style="background-color: #ffffff;">But <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/buzz-aldrin-wants-a-colony-on-mars-2015-3">many have said that </a></span></span><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/buzz-aldrin-wants-a-colony-on-mars-2015-3">a lunar strategy</a> might prove the better choice for the US space agency in the long run.</p><p>"The real problem [in the US] is the lack of direction and commitment," Jeffrey <a href="http://www.space.com/27893-china-space-program-moon-mars.html">Plescia told Space.com</a>. "I think, like others, that the moon is key to understanding how to live and work in space and explore the solar system."</p><p>China is also building its own space station. Called the Tiangong 2 space lab, its first piece could be launched as soon as next year, followed by a manned crew to make contact with the lab. The main module of the lab will launch in 2018, and the whole thing could be finished as soon as 2022.</p><p>That's around the time the International Space Station, which NASA is intimately involved with (and China is not), is planned to be decommissioned, then allowed to fall to Earth and burn up. As of right now, there are no plans for a replacement.</p><p>Experts estimate that China spends <a href="http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=11007">about $2 billion</a> on its space program every year. It's difficult to draw direct comparisons to NASA's roughly $18 billion budget because of currency conversion, but it's clear that even though they are investing heavily in space, China is still spending a much smaller amount of its overall GDP on its space program than the US (based on 2014 GDP, the US spends about 10%, while China spends less than 1%).</p><p>The country's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-secretive-space-program-takes-a-step-into-the-open-2015-1">new launch facility on the island of Hainan</a> is almost open for business.</p><h3>A space conspiracy?</h3><p>It's pretty clear US officials are wary of China's progress in space. NASA personnel are prohibited from working with the Chinese, and the Chinese can't visit any NASA building without explicit permission and a waiver. This is the same policy that has blocked China's involvement with the International Space Station.</p><p>The US's caution isn't entirely unfounded. China's space program is essentially <span style="background-color: #ffffff;">run by the military</span>. The People's Liberation Army has a huge influence over the program. The US military has also been involved with NASA, but not at the same level that China's military is.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table full"><div><div class="image on-image"><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Soldiers of Chinese People's Liberation Army stand on deck before the fleet sets out for Aden, Yemen from Zhoushan</p></div><p></p></div></div> A <a href="http://www.defense.gov/pubs/20030730chinaex.pdf">US Department of Defense report</a> suggests that China might be working on an anti-satellite weapon designed to jam U.S. navigation satellites.</p><p>Some<span style="background-color: #ffffff;"> experts, including</span> Paul Spudis, a senior staff scientist at the Planetary Institute, think that's why China is so interested in the moon.</p><p>"China's <a href="http://www.space.com/13577-photos-china-moon-orbiter-change-2-lunar-exploration.html">Chang'e 2 spacecraft</a> moved in and out of lunar orbit, went to an L-point [a gravitationally stable Lagrange point], loitered there, left" and then it flew by an asteroid, Spudis <a href="Paul Spudis">told Space.com</a>. "All of that activity is classic space control. If you combine these activities with their anti-satellite warfare experience, it's pretty clear what they are up to. I think that's their real agenda."</p><p>In other words, it looked a little like a military drill in space.</p><p>Still, not everyone thinks that's China's ultimate goal. Gregory Kulacki, senior analyst and China project manager for the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, said people have misunderstood China's intentions when they assume the nation is pursuing a space war strategy.</p><p>Kulacki <a href="http://www.space.com/27893-china-space-program-moon-mars.html">told Space.com</a> that "the strategic objective of Chinese space policy is not to exploit asymmetry between China and the United States, but to end it."</p><p>There's no way to know for sure right now. We'll be interested to see if China can stick to its aggressive lunar landing timeline though. </p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/nasa-flying-saucer-spacecraft-parachute-launch-failure-video-2015-6">Watch NASA scientists react to the parachute deployment of their 'flying saucer' spacecraft</a></h3>        <div>            <div>        <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="RmbTRrdTo6zZsGrLa92P_WSGL7oynUt5" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>        </div>        </div>            </div>

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