COPUOS/T.551
Page 6
General Assembly, that these matters, these issues
become visible and prominent in the eyes of the
international community.
Thank you Mr. Chairman.
The CHAIRMAN
(interpretation from
French): I thank Ambassador Raimundo González for
his contribution. I think the contribution that this
Committee can make to the United Nations Report on
Sustainable Development is something that we should
come back to and the fact that space activities are not
mentioned in the most recent version of that report is
regrettable and we, as a Committee, should make an
effort to convey the necessary information, the
necessary messages to the editorial staff of this annual
report. The role of space activities in sustainable
development should be highlighted.
I am now going to call upon Ambassador
Guoqiang Tang of China.
Mr. G. TANG (China) (interpretation from
Chinese): Mr. Chairman, first of all, please allow me,
on behalf of the Chinese delegation, to congratulate
you on your election as Chairman of this session of
COPUOS. We believe that, under the guidance of you
and other members of the Bureaux and with the
common efforts and cooperation of all members of the
Committee, this session will successfully accomplish
its tasks, thus contributing to the peaceful use of outer
space and international cooperation. The Chinese
delegation will, as always, actively support and
participate in various activities of this Committee, to
ensure the success of the session.
Mr. Chairman, China’s development in the
space sector during the past 50 years tells us that
advances in space technology and its applications can
lead to a quantum leap in relevant scientific fields and
the overall technological capacity, through which
national economy, scientific and technological
development and the living standard of the population
can be fostered and the final objective of benefiting the
whole mankind can be realized.
Over the past year, China achieved new
successes in its space effort. Apart from the successful
launches of the telecommunications satellites Asia-
Pacific-6, scientific experiment satellite SHIJIAN-7
and two other recoverable satellites, we sent yet
another manned spacecraft, Shenzhou-6, with two
astronauts aboard into space in October 2005,
subsequent to the successful flight of Shenzhou-5.
After five days of flight around the Earth, it landed
safely and became our first space experiment with the
participation of multiple crew members and the
anticipated results were achieved.
In addition, the Chinese Government
continues to carry out international cooperation and
exchanges with other countries, space agencies and
international space organizations in the areas of space
technology and applications on the basis of peaceful
use, equality and mutual benefit, complementarity and
common progress. In 2005, the Chinese Government
successfully hosted the Asia Disaster Reduction
Conference in Beijing, which adopted the Beijing Plan
of Action for Disaster Risk Reduction in Asia.
It is noteworthy that the effort of the Chinese
Government to promote multilateral cooperation in the
field of space technology and applications in the field
of space technology and applications in the Asia-
Pacific region has achieved remarkable progress. The
Convention of Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation
Organization was open for signature in Beijing on 28
October 2005, and as of 1 June this year, there are
already nine Signatory States, namely, Bangladesh,
China, Indonesia, Iran, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru,
Thailand and Turkey. The Convention will enter into
force following the fifth ratification. By then, the
Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization will
formally come into being, with its headquarters in
Beijing. We are convinced that the Asia-Pacific Space
Cooperation Organization will contribute to the
expansion of exchanges and cooperation among
countries, to economic development, social progress
and enhancement of living standard in Asia-Pacific.
Mr. Chairman, during its eleventh five-year
plan period, namely from 2006 to 2010, China will, by
way of encouraging innovation and enhancing
international cooperation, continue to press ahead with
the transformation of its space industry from the phase
of experimental applications to the phase of operational
services, developing communication, navigation and
remote sensing satellites and their applications and
forming a space industry chain which covers space,
ground, end-products manufacturing and operational
services.
Mr. Chairman, the rapid growth of space
activities and space technology offers not just
tremendous opportunities for development, but also
serious tests and challenges. For nearly 50 years, the
international community has made sustained efforts to
maintain outer space for peaceful use. However, the
policy of a certain country to test, deploy and use
weapons and weapon systems in outer space is
disconcerting. Outer space is the common heritage of
mankind and weaponization of outer space is bound to