China says open to space cooperation with US but ‘hurdles’ remain

BEIJING (Reuters) – China remains open towards cooperation with countries including the United States in space, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, following congratulations from U.S. space agency NASA on China’s Chang’e-6 mission to the far side of the moon.

But the United States needs to remove obstacles towards further cooperation, Mao Ning, a spokesperson at the ministry, said at a regular news conference.

China is currently banned by U.S. law from any collaboration with NASA, directly or indirectly.

(Reporting by Laurie Chen; writing by Ryan Woo; editing by Jason Neely)