In a letter to the CAIC regular meeting, Wu Bangguo, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and vice-premier of the State Council, said that CAIC has made great achievements in terms of five successful launchings of CHANGZHENG rockets, smooth operation of five satellites, development of products for civil use and the reform of the enterprise.

Wu called for harder work to enhance technological research and ensure smooth implementation of the manned spacecraft project. Meanwhile, the company should speed up reform and increase profits.

CAIC general manager Wang Liheng said that the carrier rockets named CHANGZHENG have launched 25 foreign satellites into space during the nation's Ninth Five-Year plan (1996-2000) with a success rate of 92 percent. Satellite research has progressed toward a practical and commercialized style from the previous experimental stage.

CAIC vows to make more efforts in the 10th Five-Year Plan (2001- 2005), carrying out further research in the aspect of non- polluting carrier rockets, strengthening the rockets' applicability, participating in international competition and raising the success rate of rocket launches.

(People's Daily 02/07/2001)