And in the early 60's, putting a man on the moon was beyond our abilities too. However, stating a goal, and working towards a goal, means that the abilities grow. The sciences that have spun off of NASA are over 100x the cost of the Appollo programs. The advances that were made in communications, medicine, computers, software, materials, remote sensing, etc, etc. have far exceeded expectations. As it is now, the USA does not have a stated goal or mission in space; let alone a timeline for doing anything remotely new.
Please note -- we're not talking about moon landings, but a moon base. We were able to do the former, but were far from being able to do the latter, because it required far more oomph than we had on hand at the time.
The Chinese are nowhere close, either. That's why I'm calling this political posturing -- just reading the article makes that clear: "From a long-term perspective, it is a historical necessity for man to travel into space," a poster at the exhibition proclaimed.