CHINA and the United States have renewed their satellite launching agreement six weeks after a Long March 2E rocket carrying a US-made satellite exploded shortly after take-off.
'China has become a recognised competitor in the international market for space launch services,' US Trade Representative Mickey Kantor said yesterday after signing a memorandum of agreement with administrator of the China National Space Administration Liu Jiyuan.
'The market for satellite services requiring space launch vehicles is in a period of rapid change which will create new commercial launch service opportunities for everyone,' said Mr Kantor.
According to Xinhua (the New China News Agency), the memorandum is valid for seven years. It prolongs and perfects the original one which was signed on January 26, 1989 and expired last December.
The signing was Mr Kantor's final step in wrapping up a three-day trip to China that went a long way towards easing Sino-US trade tensions.
Mr Kantor left the mainland last night with an eight-point agreement which will open new markets for US goods and will bring China back to Geneva in late April to negotiate accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
The US has made some concessions towards China's demand to be recognised as a developing country which would allow it to adhere to a less rigorous set of trade rules. The US and other Western countries had initially objected to this.