China’s spacecraft launch prompts mixed reaction in Japan

Text of report in English by Japanese news agency Kyodo

Tokyo, 15 October: Government officials, astronomers and many people in Japan on Wednesday [15 October] welcomed China’s success in putting a manned spacecraft into orbit, although some critics fretted over its military-diplomatic implications.

“I’d like to offer my heartfelt congratulations. I hope the voyage will proceed with full care until it returns safely,” Japan’s top government spokesman Yasuo Fukuda said.

Fukuda, chief cabinet secretary, brushed aside worries that Japan, with no plans for manned space flight, is falling behind China. “We have many things to do in the way of unmanned (flights). Japan has its own way.”

In Washington, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) released a statement by administrator Sean O’Keefe, saying, “This launch is an important achievement in the history of human exploration,” and, “NASA wishes China a continued safe human space flight programme.”

Japan’s science and technology minister Takeo Kawamura said he feels deep respect as the launch “indicates that China has sophisticated space technology”.

But Keio University professor Tomoyuki Kojima, who is an expert in Chinese politics, said that although China is “ostensibly opposed to the military use of outer space, this launch apparently has military purposes”.

“Its stance to counter the US military power in the medium to long term has become clearer. At least in Asia, China now has the capacity to take the lead in the field of space development,” he said.

Space technology analyst Nobuo Nakatomi said, “Japan is likely to be the one to take the severest blow” from the Chinese success. “A country capable of launching anytime will have a large influence in terms of diplomacy at the United Nations and military affairs. Moves to buy products from a country succeeding in manned space flight may also occur.”

Hiroo Hieda of the semi-governmental Institute for Future Technology said the launch shows China has a “considerable degree of collective strength in the space area” but called for transparency, saying China’s disclosure of information was insufficient compared with the United States and Europe.

Space Activities Commission member Hiroki Matsuo said he expects China’s success will prompt Japan to reconsider its goals for space development, including its policy of focusing on unmanned exploration. “Discussions on manned space flight have long been simmering in Japan,” he said.

Astronauts also welcomed the launch, including Russell Schweickart of the US, Aleksei Leonov of Russia and Japan’s Chiaki Mukai and Mamoru Mohri, who were at an astronauts’ meeting in Tokyo that started Monday.

Mohri said, “It is an accomplishment that an Asian nation has launched as planned.”

The group learned of the success during a tour to the Japan Space Exploration Agency’s Tsukuba Space Centre near Tokyo.

In the run-up to the launch, Mukai ruled out worries about Beijing insisting on using Chinese technology, saying, “It is good that ways to access space has increased. I think China will join the circle of international coordination before long.”

Chinese residents in Japan had no reservations in expressing their joy.

“The space development technology of our home country has reached its top level with this,” a 53-year-old teacher at a Chinese school in Kobe said. “I hope this will prompt children to have an interest in space.”

“It’s unbelievable. Japan lost in this field,” a woman running a Chinese grocery store said.