According to statements to CNN by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, it is gratifying to learn that China’s space agency intends to share materials collected by the Chang’e-6 lunar probe last month, but U.S. access to the samples may be hindered by a 2011 law known as the Wolf Amendment.

That provision prohibits NASA’s use of government funds for bilateral cooperation with China or its agencies without authorization from Congress or the Federal Bureau of Investigation, effectively barring the space agency from routinely working with its Chinese counterpart.

“If the United States really wants to engage in normal space exchanges with China, I think they should take concrete steps to remove these obstacles,” Bian Zhigang argued, vice president of China’s National Space Administration.

Liu Yunfeng, director of the international cooperation office of the China National Space Administration, said during a press conference in Beijing on Thursday that “China welcomes scientists from all countries to apply, study the samples, and share the benefits.”

That country opened those samples to international scientists for the first time, and Bill Nelson has given the green light for researchers funded by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to apply for access.

In a race for space in which powerhouses such as the United States, Japan, China, India, Russia, United Arab Emirates; the successful return of the Chang’e-6 lunar mission with the historic payload on June 25 further cemented the Asians’ place as one of the world’s leading space forces.

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