Chinese Space Station and More

Earlier this month China launched the Tiangong-2 ("Heavenly Palace") into orbit to replace the  Tiangong-1, which has been in orbit for the last 5 years and is expected to fall back to Earth late next year. These are really test missions that will lead to a permanent space station, planned for 2020.

Let's not forget that China has already placed a rover on the Moon (the Yutu shown above) and plans to send a rover to Mars in 2020 (see images below). All of which shows the nation is willing to find its own way of other nations do not wish to cooperate. 

Just as we have competition between the private sector entities in the U.S. space industry, maybe this competition between nations, which also includes countries such as India and Japan, is a smart way to allow different approaches and technologies to flourish. While I think an interstellar mission may need more centralization, we are far from that now (at least at the human level) and the competition in the meantime may help us to reach that goal more quickly. 

So best wishes to China and the other space-faring nations.