China is set to provide high-quality satellite data, products,
services and applications in the Asia-Pacific region to benefit
other countries and to strengthen regional cooperation in the
field.
"We hope that more Asia-Pacific countries can benefit from the
digital video broadcasting-satellite through China's Fengyun series
of meteorological satellites for their meteorological research,
disaster mitigation, economic growth and prosperity," said Qin
Dahe, head of the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).
CMA and China National Space Administration (CNSA) presented
reception stations for the system to seven Asia-Pacific countries
at a donation ceremony in Beijing on Friday, to further promote
regional multilateral cooperation in space technology and
applications.
The system can receive real-time data from China's
meteorological satellites, along with satellites owned by other
countries worldwide, and broadcast them to countries in the
Asia-Pacific region.
China has used the system since last year for monitoring climate
change, weather forecasting, disaster and environmental monitoring
as well as services for many other fields including agriculture,
forestry and civil aviation, said Zhang Wenjian, a CMA
official.
He said that China has established more than 100 users of the
system across its territory and said he hopes that more countries
in the region will take the opportunity to share the information it
collects and processes for their benefit.
Beijing-based ambassadors from Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran,
Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru and Thailand expressed appreciation for
China's efforts in promoting space cooperation in the Asia-Pacific
region.
China and the seven countries signed a convention on space
cooperation last October as the precursor to establishing the
Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) in Beijing, an
inter-governmental organization to facilitate international
alliances for the peaceful use of space.
"By sharing the satellite data from the system, more information
can be used for the region's peace and prosperity and people are
linked together for a better future," said Ashfaqur Rahman,
Bangladesh Ambassador to China.
Indonesian Ambassador Sudrajat said the Chinese satellite system
is "an active step towards space cooperation under the APSCO."
Luo Ge, deputy administrator of CNSA, pledged to run training
courses for staff from the APSCO member states to help them use the
system and to realize the cooperation proposed by the
convention.
China has launched seven weather satellites since 1988,
including four in polar orbits and three in earth synchronous
orbits. Two are still operating.
The satellites have been listed on the global meteorological
watch system by the World Meteorological Organization as a key part
of its Global Earth Observation system.
Four other weather satellites are scheduled for launch before
2013, with the first to be put into orbit this year.
Part of the Fengyun-2 (FY-2) series of weather satellites, they
will serve not only as an observation system over the skies of
China to monitor possible weather changes that may affect the
country, but will also contribute to regional space
cooperation.
(China Daily March 25, 2006)