China's Shenzhou-11 capsule docks with Tiangong-2 station

Re: Well done!

As the ban was enacted by Congress through law, the president has little say in the matter.

from "CONSOLIDATED AND FURTHER CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2012"

"Sec. 539. <<NOTE: China.>> (a) None of the funds made available by

this Act may be used for the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA) or the Office of Science and Technology Policy

(OSTP) to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement, or execute a

bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to

participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with

China or any Chinese-owned company unless such activities are

specifically authorized by a law enacted after the date of enactment of

this Act."

with the exclusion clause of

"(c) <<NOTE: Certification.>> The limitations described in

subsections (a) and (b) shall not apply to activities which NASA or OSTP

have certified pose no risk of resulting in the transfer of technology,

data, or other information with national security or economic security

implications to China or a Chinese-owned company."

but also the rather ungenerous (no biscuits allowed?)

" (b) <<NOTE: Applicability.>> The limitation in subsection (a) shall

also apply to any funds used to effectuate the hosting of official

Chinese visitors at facilities belonging to or utilized by NASA."

Re: Well done!

I doubt it was human rights as well, the bigger picture is often far weirder than we minions are led to believe. Isolation can stimulate innovation, Cuba being a classic example of mend & make do. South Africa armaments being another and now we see the children of Mao doing rather well in the fields of Space-flight & Fusion Power. Kind of makes you hope that North Korea is another control group like Albania.