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Editorial

China says its space programme has no military purpose

Published: November 2011

Beijing. China's space missions do not directly serve any military purpose, a space programme official has said.

But the space-related technological developments can be used in both civilian and military sectors, Wang Zhaoyao, vice director of the China Manned Space Engineering Office, was quoted as saying by the Shanghai Daily.

"A communication satellite can be used for TV broadcasting and military communications," he said.

China completed its first-ever space docking mission Nov 17. Unmanned spacecraft Shenzhou-8 docked twice with space lab module Tiangong-1 during its 17-day mission.

Wang said this was a major step toward a future space station, and China was ready to cooperate with other nations.

Tiangong-1, which blasted off into space Sep 29, will remain in orbit to await docking attempts by both Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 spacecraft in 2012. At least one of these spacecraft will take astronauts.