February 27, 2008
How do you say 'chutzpah' in Chinese?
Sadly, my own studies* of the Chinese language decades ago never made it to the point where I could find the right word to describe China's response to America's destruction of the spy satellite falling to earth. AP reports:
China asked the U.S. to release data on the shootdown of an ailing spy satellite, while the Communist Party's newspaper blasted what it called Washington's callous attitude toward the weaponization of space. [....]"China is continuously following closely the possible harm caused by the U.S. action to outer space security and relevant countries," spokesman Liu Jianchao said at a regularly scheduled news conference."China requests the U.S. ... provide to the international community necessary information and relevant data in a timely and prompt way," Liu said.... none of Beijing's recent statements mentioned China's own satellite shootdown.China's anti-satellite test was also criticized for being more dangerous. The targeted satellite was located about 500 miles above the earth and the resulting debris threatened communication satellites and other orbiting space vehicles. Foreign space experts and governments labeled China a space litterbug.
* at Harvard we used textbooks published by the Chinese government, so I can still remember how to say "Long live Chairman Mao."
Hat tip: Dennis Sevakis