"The door to peaceful nuclear explosions should not be closed, at least not now," the Foreign Ministry said the day before Mr. Yeltsin's arrival for three days of meetings in China... China is arguing that mankind needs to keep developing "peaceful" nuclear weapons in case a giant asteroid is discovered careering through space on a collision course with the earth..."Only China is thinking about the future of mankind," said a European diplomat here, rolling his eyes, as he repeated the Chinese argument that nuclear detonations might be needed on -- or above -- the planet."
http://www.nytimes.com/1996/04/27/world/chinese-seek-atom-option-to-fend-off-asteroids.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm
"The issue of asteroid collisions is one that must be studied and great care must taken in order to ensure that the best possible solutions are being explored. What we cannot afford is an imperialist attitude towards the issue of collision prevention. The security of the planet is the responsibility of all of us," said a spokesperson for the Chinese government. "While we support the discussion revolving around this issue, we cannot in good faith simply agree to enter into the discussion about how to prevent this potential disaster until we discuss the criteria on which the discussion will take place." ... "We cannot allow the defence of Earth be the sole domain of Anglo-American interests. The defence of our planet must be a co-operative effort conducted by leading scientists from across the globe including Russia, which was the first country to launch a satellite into space and the first country to launch a human being into space. No asteroid protection can be conducted without Russian inclusion," said a spokesperson for the Kremlin. "The Americans and the British cannot seek dominance of space, neither in near orbit, the moon, or in any asteroid body. We cannot allow foreign interests to conduct weapon tests in space, nor allow them to push or drag meteors towards or away from the Russian people."
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