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| Saturday, 18 October 2003 |
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China touts space feat as technological, not military BEIJING, Friday (Reuters) China's press gushed with pride on Friday after the country became the third to send a man into space and back, pronouncing the feat as a step towards technological supremacy - but not towards becoming a military powerhouse. But at least one paper warned that there were more pressing matters on Earth, such regional economic imbalances and widespread poverty. Space hero Yang Liwei's 14-orbit odyssey and safe return aboard Shenzhou V showed "the Chinese people have taken a step with great historical significance in their journey to scale the world's heights in science and technology", the Communist Party newspaper, People's Daily, glowed in a front-page commentary. Yang's scribbled autograph and his regards to the people of China appeared just above it. The English-language China Daily, in a two-pronged editorial, warned against euphoria in a country with a dramatic rich-poor divide while rebutting some international sceptics who fear a new space race and say China's ultimate goals are military. "Will China eat its words about the non-militarisation of outer space and provoke a new arms race in space?" the newspaper asked. The answer was a wishful "no": China had more pressing matters on Earth to address. "Nothing...should blind us from the reality that dozens of millions of our fellow countrymen are still struggling to make ends meet below an already very low subsistence line. "No matter how far our spacecraft can reach, it cannot escape the heavy drag of poverty and regional imbalances. Our identity as a developing country will not change, at least in the near future. "Even if the country does attain the position as a world power some day, China has little chance of becoming a bully." After a near blackout on print coverage of the army-run mission until the moment of the launch, newspapers devoted entire sections to Yang's trip and hero's welcome. State television aired constant re-runs of university students and state employees nationwide bursting into applause and patriotic song when Yang clambered from his capsule on the plains of Inner Mongolia, a bit stunned but still strong. It also ran commercials for Inner Mongolian dairy giant Mengniu, maker of the official milk of China's astronauts, and Shenzhou V's lubricant supplier Kunlun, made by oil major PetroChina 0857.HK.PTR.N . But the scenes paled in comparison to spontaneous mass celebrations in July 2001 when Beijing won the right to stage the 2008 Olympics. |
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