Mr. Chairman,
Please allow me, on behalf of the Chinese delegation, to congratulate you on your election as well as on the election of the new bureau. The Chinese delegation will, as always, be actively involved throughout the sessions of COPUOS by having in-depth exchange of views and close cooperation with all delegations in a common effort to contribute to the success of the current session.
Mr. Chairman,
The Chinese government has consistently followed the principle of harmonious outer space and is committed to building an outer space for peace, equality and cooperation. We remain committed to the idea that all activities aimed at exploring outer space should be bringing benefits to humankind. All countries, large or small, strong or weak, should have the right to peacefully use outer space. We are opposed to the weaponization of and an arms race in outer space and would like to make efforts to ensure the peaceful use of outer pace and would like to strengthen international cooperation in the process of exploring and using outer space so that the advances in space technologies will benefit all countries.
Mr. Chairman,
The past one year has witnessed China's substantial progress in outer space exploration, manned space program and satellite technologies and her new contributions to the common cause of humankind in the efforts to explore outer space. A week ago on June 2nd, we successfully launched the fourth COMPASS navigation satellite. This marks another important step in the network building of the COMPASS satellite navigation system and constitutes steady progress in the building of space infrastructure. Substantial progress has been made in the building up and consolidation of the remote-sensing satellite ground system and information resources are getting increasingly abundant. The wide application of space technology in the economic construction and social life helps enhancing people's living standards. The leading-edge space technology has been applied in the development of the environmentally friendly new clean energy, new products and agricultural breeding. Space-based and geographic information is also widely applied in the sustainable development in all areas. Space technologies are playing an irreplaceable positive role in the social and economic progress.
Mr. Chairman,
While achieving self-development, China is also actively carrying out international exchange and cooperation in outer space and pays special attention to capacity building of the developing countries. During the current session of COPUOS, the host-country agreement for UN-SPIDER Beijing Office will be signed, marking a new milestone in the cooperation between the Chinese government and OOSA. The Chinese government will continue to support the work of the Beijing Office in an effort to promote the international cooperation and capacity-building in the field of diaster reduction by means of space technologies. On May 29th, the IAA China Research Center was inaugurated and the first international seminar was held on the global environmental impact cooperation. The IAA China Research Center will support the management work of the academic research of the global IAA research groups so that it will become a platform to carry out international space exchange and cooperation and promote the communication and exchange among the space experts from all countries. From May 31st to June 3rd, the China Aerospace Association and the International Astronautic Federation co-sponsored the First World Moon Conference in Beijing. Experts from 26 countries and regions have held extensive discussions on items such as life science and manned lunar landing. The conference facilitated the exchanges on technologies, resources and exploration findings. As we speak, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China is co-sponsoring with APSCO a two-week long training course on "The Global Navigation Satellite System and its Applications", a training session provided to the Member States on satellite navigation and application technologies. In the future, China would like to be more open and work with all countries, the developing countries in particular, in practical cooperations in outer space.
Mr. Chairman,
The legislative development in outer space is an important guarantee to build a harmonious outer space. The existing outer space legal regime, though playing an important role in regulating the space activities of all countries, maintaining order in space and promoting space cooperation, is still neither sufficient to prevent weaponization of and an arms race in outer space nor adequate to effectively cope with issues of space environment such as space debris. Hence, the legislative development in outer space is still a heavy task and we have a long to go. Without prejudice to the existing legal framework, the Chinese government supports and actively advocates for concluding a comprehensive legal instrument through negotiations in an attempt to maintain peace and tranquility in outer space, find solutions to the new issues to be faced in the exploration and use of outer space and promote legislative development to build a harmonious outer space. We believe that COPUOS will continue to have an important role to play in this process.
Mr. Chairman,
Space exploration is a great cause for humankind and the spirit it has inspired to have continuous explorations is a valuable spiritual asset of humankind. While continuing her exploration into the deep and vast outer space, China is ready to work with the international community to make unremitting efforts to build a harmonious outer space.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.