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China and the United States broke a four-year deadlock in consultations
over commercial satellite launches in Beijing yesterday.
The five-day talks began behind closed doors in the Chinese capital
on Monday and will continue until Friday with visits to space facilities
in Xi'an in Northwest China and Shanghai, according to sources in
the US Embassy and China's space agency.
Although details of the talks are confidential, a brief news release
issued yesterday said that the two sides exchanged information on
commercial satellite launches and reviewed the implementation of
a major bilateral agreement.
The consultation, the first since the two sides met in Washington
in 1997, took place under the memorandum of agreement regarding
international trade in commercial launch services, which China and
US signed in 1989, according to John Berry, a spokesman of the US
Embassy in Beijing.
The agreement has enshrined provisions for regular consultations
on commercial satellite launch issues, said the embassy official.
"These are the first talks in several years, following a number
of administrative delays in scheduling,'' said the spokesman. "The
US side has been looking forward to these talks, which it sees as
a symbol of the long-term co-operation between China and America
in this area.''
Participants in the talks included Sun Jiadong, special adviser
for the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and Steve Falken,
director of Space Trade Policy of the US Trade Representative office.
The talks will cover such areas as the world market outlook, new
Chinese projects, and the functioning of the agreement itself.
Luo Ge, a division director of the CNSA, said the talks held in
the past two days were "sincere and candid, with both sides
improving mutual understanding.'' He said thanks to the concerted
efforts of China and the United States, bilateral collaborations
in commercial launch services had been very fruitful in the past.
China has so far sent more than 20 US-manufactured satellites into
orbit, he said.
(China Daily 03/21/01)
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