The subcommittee is part of a larger committee for regular meetings between the prime ministers of China and Russia. This committee was established under the Sino-Russian agreement that was signed on June 27, 1997.

The leader of the Chinese delegation and chairman of the meeting was Luan Enjie, chief of the National Space Agency. Yuri Koptev, director general of the Russian Space Agency headed the Russian delegation.

Details of the meeting were not disclosed. According to the Xinhua News Agency, the two sides discussed seriously on cooperation in various areas and programmes.

However, ITAR-TASS reported that China expressed interest in the Russian manned spaceflight technology and the global navigational satellite system GLONASS.

Both sides agreed that the bilateral space cooperation would foster peaceful use of space technologies and resource, benefit citizens of the two countries, and promote world peace and development.

In recent months Russia had courted China to further their space cooperation, particularly in supporting Mir operations. In March Russian news media quoted vice-premier Ilya Klebanov as saying that China requested Russia to help design and build a space station.

News reports also said that both sides reached a preliminary agreement to manufacture some space station components, and in training yuhangyuan, or Chinese astronauts, and ground controllers.

Earlier last week in a news conference in Moscow to announce details of the proposed Russian "Air Start" launch system, Klebanov told ITAR-TASS that "talks are now under way with several Chinese enterprises" to participate in the project.

"Air Start" is the Russian version of an air-launching system, similar to the Pegasus launching system in the U.S. In the "Air Start" system, the launcher will be carried into high altitude for release on a modified Russian An-124-AL cargo plane, the largest aircraft in the world.

DRAGON SPACE
Russia Hopes China Will Seek Help In Building Its Own Space Station
by Wei Long
Beijing - March 22, 2000 - Russia is wooing China for further space cooperation, particularly in supporting Mir operation, according to a report published last week in New York.