China opens space projects to the world

BEIJING - China opened up the control room at Aerospace City in the Beijing suburbs - the nerve centre from where it has run its two manned space launches -- to foreign observers yesterday as part of its efforts to be included in joint space projects.

The rare visit by foreign reporters was allowed as China is keen to gain access to the International Space Station and other joint projects and assuage fears that its space programme is driven by military needs.

The country's first astronaut, or taikonaut as they are known in China, Colonel Yang Liwei met Western reporters for the first time since he orbited the Earth in 2003 on China's maiden manned space flight, Shenzhou V.

"We hope to further our exchanges with our counterparts in foreign countries and learn from each other. Let's join hands and work together to create a bright future for the peaceful use of space," he said.

Yang's 21-hour mission in October 2003 made China only the third nation to send a human into orbit on its own, after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

During a briefing after his historic flight, he told reporters the Great Wall was not visible from space, putting paid to one long-standing urban myth about China's national symbol.

Last October, two more taikonauts, Nie Haisheng and Fei Junlong, followed with a five-day mission on Shenzhou VI.

The next manned launch is planned for 2007 and is expected to consist of three astronauts. Next year China is also planning to launch the first satellite as part of its long-term plan to explore the moon.

China wants to put a man - or woman -- on the moon and build a space station in 15 years and aims to have the technology for a space walk and dock in space by 2012.

The space programme looks like a throwback to the space race of the Cold War, a dated way for a country to flex its international muscle in a globalised world where market forces now bridge what was once the divide between communism and capitalism.

Senior scientists insist the country's space programme, which is influenced by the Soviet technology, was totally peaceful and not a throwback to the days of the space race.

"It's not the competition of the Cold War era," said Hu Shixiang, deputy commander of China's manned space flight programme.

China presents its space programme as part of its efforts to catch up with the rest of the world and match its growing economic influence with the trappings of a modern state, such as a top-notch space programme. Everything in the project is Made in China.

China's space programme has been criticised as being too expensive for a developing country, even if the economy is growing rapidly, particularly at a time when the government is trying to bridge a yawning divide between the rural poor and wealthy urbanites.

The overall costs have been relatively low - so far the Chinese government has spent about the cost of one US space shuttle in getting a man into space, around £1.2 billion ($3.66 billion) in 11 years.

China began to develop its manned spacecraft project in 1992, much later than elsewhere. Last year's orbit of the Earth cost around £60 million.

The space programme has acted as a handy outlet for national sentiment, and proved hugely popular among the general population.

Plus there are sound commercial and technological reasons for developing a space programme, such as for developing satellite-based navigation systems.

It's the military applications, such as spy satellites, which makes the West wary.

Analysts say Washington is unlikely to agree to sharing technology and giving China a bigger role in manned space projects until Beijing signs up to an international treaty that controls trade in long-range missiles.

But relations are getting warmer on the space front. Nasa administrator Michael Griffin said earlier this year he would visit China to discuss cooperation.

- INDEPENDENT