For the first time in space program history, China will be able to deliver a commercial payload to the International Space Station. In partnership with an aerospace firm in Houston called NanoRacks, the Beijing Institute of Technology is seeking to study what effects on DNA microgravity have. This joint endeavor is significant as it comes in the heels of China being pointed as the culprit in recent hacking incidents involving U.S. government agencies. According to a report in foxnews.com they are also being perceived as threat by the U.S. in military space programs as the communist country has taken a more aggressive approach in the last two years. It's also how long the deal between NanoRacks and B.I.T. took to finally materialize.
In the same post in foxnews.com, it was noted that it's not the first time NASA had projects with Chinese involvement. One particular project is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer that was connected to the International Space Station during the last space shuttle mission. However, in 2011, the US government began imposing a ban on China and Chinese-owned companies from working with NASA on space projects which was called the "Wolf Amendment". The only way to get over it is if China can ease off of their spying activities on the US and until human rights violations of the PROC cease.
A report in nasawatch.com further details how the project came to be despite all the legal hurdles. According to NanoRacks, the arrangement was China will provide funding but there is no exchange of technology or hardware used. They only get data and samples of the experiment. They also said the project was carefully selected and was approved because the results of the study will immensely benefit science in general. It was also agreed that the payload would only be using NanoRacks equipment and will be considered a NanoRacks payload.
