Qi Chengyuan, deputy director of the High-tech Industry Division of the China State Planning Committee, said: "The growth of satellite applications has increased rapidly in the past five years."

Liu Cai, vice-chairman of the China Institute of Communication, said that satellite businesses such as television broadcasting and televisual education via satellite are boosting economic growth. Many foreign companies, including Gilat, Hughes and Intelsat, also believe the sector in China will offer them business opportunities.

But officials said that technological standards and the investment return from this sector in China lag behind their counterparts in most developed countries. However, the central government has been holding human-resources training, sponsoring academic exchanges between China and other countries, and encouraging business co-operation.

(China Daily August 29, 2002)