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Bush Says China Space Program Not a Threat

Posted on: Sunday, 19 October 2003, 06:00 CDT

BANGKOK (AFP) -- US President George W. Bush, who came to office branding China as a "strategic competitor," said in an interview released Saturday that he did not view Beijing's space program as a threat.

"No, it's an interesting development," he told Channel News Asia in an exchange taped earlier this week in Washington. "I don't necessarily see it as a threat."

China on Wednesday launched an astronaut into space aboard the Shenzhou V craft, sending it into the elite club of countries with manned space programmes alongside Russia and the United States.

"I think it's a country that's now beginning to emerge as a sophisticated country. And it's got great potential," said Bush. "I hope that they are able to make discoveries in space, like we did, the technology that will come out of that will help mankind."

Chinese Astronaut Yang Liwei safely landed in north China's Inner Mongolia Thursday, following a 21-hour flight during which he orbited the earth 14 times.

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