"We want cooperation that has not been forthcoming from the Chinese government (but) it takes two to tango," Nelson told a press conference at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "We simply haven't had any transparency from the Chinese."
When China launched its space station, the first stage of its booster space rocket landed in the Indian Ocean and Beijing did not share any tracking data either with the United States or other countries, Nelson said.
"When they put up their space station they did not reserve enough fuel to control where it came down and thank the Good Lord it came down in the Indian Ocean. (But) it could have come down in Europe, it could have come down in Saudi Arabia. It could have come down in Greece," he said.
There has still been no forthcoming from the Chinese government about such cooperation and so the United States will deal with tracking Chinese space activity as it progresses, Nelson added.