Nearly 100 experts from major space nations, including the United States, Russia, China, France, Germany, Japan and India, gathered in Beijing Monday to discuss ways to enact or improve laws on human space activities.

On the opening day of the two-day International Space Law Conference, Jeffery Maclure, a noted space law expert with the US State Department, presented a report on his country's formulation of laws and policies on space-related activities.

Experts from China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Indonesia, Chinese Hong Kong and Taipei and Australia delivered reports outlining the space programs and progress in legislation on space activities in their countries or regions.

In his opening address, Wang Liheng, president of the China Institute of Space Law, told the conference that the international community must resolve a host of legal issues and enact new laws to ensure the exploration and use of space resources benefit the progressive cause of humanity, and that the environment of outer space is protected.

Wang, also a member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, called for more international exchanges and cooperation in space programs.

He listed space debris from disintegration of launch vehicles, the use of nuclear-powered devices in deeper space probes and irrecoverable satellites and materials launched from earth as potential hazards to the space environment.

Mickael Torrado and Marco Ferrazzani from the European Space Agency; Paul Larsen, from Georgetown University in the US; and Chinese experts are scheduled to make presentations Tuesday on their countries' global navigation satellite system programs.

(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2004)