Global Times
December 17, 2009

The Chinese-language Global Times leads with a story about the uncertainties surrounding the final 48 hours of the Copenhagen climate talks, but a headline in the bottom right-hand box may be of more practical interest: Humanity Still Curious about UFOs.

The full-page story was inspired by the closure of the UK Ministry of Defence's UFO investigation unit. After summarizing UFO research operations in various countries, the article concludes with a brief mention of sightings in China and the fundamental significance of UFO research:

On the 16th, Wang Sichao of the Purple Mountain Observatory analyzed for the Global Times the suspension of the MoD UFO program. He said that one reason was the fact that observation is difficult: UFOs arrive unexpectedly, float for a bit, and disappear, usually staying less than twenty minutes. By the time experts can set up observation equipment, the UFO has already disappeared. Another issue is that UFOs have never endangered the UK's national defense system.

An article in The Times reasoned that the UFO phenomenon reflects something more profound, an antidote for humanity's cosmic loneliness. The downward trend of UFO reports in recent years may mean that people have found more practical things to worry about in a complicated and uncertain society. "We no longer look into the sky and ponder the chances of anything coming from Mars. And even if we did, with the spread of light pollution, it would take a spaceship with very bright lights to be spotted at all."

Wang Sichao said that some government agencies and private-sector researchers in China also collect and investigate UFO-related materials. Over the course of more than thirty years of research and observation, he has found that one-third of UFO sightings cannot be explained. He said that humanity's fascination with UFOs is a product of our natural curiosity the instinct to explore the unknown. People also hope to find out whether aliens craft have actually arrived on Earth. If contact were established with an alien civilization, we could learn from their advanced ways, and terrestrial civilization might experience a developmental leap more significant than Columbus' discovery of the New World. Wang also believes that unknown natural phenomena and new laws of nature can be discovered through UFO observation and research. Regardless of whether UFOs actually exist, humanity's spirit of exploration should carry on to find new research methods.

The English-language Global Times published its own UFO-related article in November, which led off by quoting remarks from a professor of physics at Yunnan University:

"The complicated terrain of these places makes them perfect for observation of us earthlings," said Zhang Yifang, director of the Kunming UFO Research Association.
...
The only reason why Yunnan has so many UFO sightings is there are so many UFO enthusiasts, the critics argue.

They are wrong, Zhang insists. The aliens are living right here among us and he knows it.

"Yunnan is a mysterious place, full of oddities," he said. "The aliens' intelligence is beyond us. They must have a good reason to choose to stay in Yunnan."

No solid evidence proves they are in Yunnan, he concedes.

"But I believe they are nice and they have no intention of attacking us," he said. "Perhaps they are shape-shifters camouflaged as human beings or they have manufactured human-like robots to watch us."

How many aliens or robots, or when they first came to settle, he could not say.

The newspaper continues in the same arch tone as it speaks to an ace UFO spotter who made a correct prediction back in 1981, a man who has seen six UFOs, and the inventor of an anti-gravity device.