China to strengthen space governance over next five years – white paper

BEIJING (Reuters) – China said it will strengthen its governance in space over the next five years to better protect its assets and interests, including the study of plans to build a near-earth object defence system and cooperation with other nations.

China will also strengthen space traffic control, improve its space debris monitoring system, and build an integrated space-ground space climate monitoring system, according to a white paper published by the Chinese government on Friday.

At the same time, China will seek to actively participate in the formulation of international rules on outer space under the framework of the United Nations, and work jointly with other countries to address the challenges in ensuring long-term sustainability of outer space activities.

“China will actively participate in discussions on international issues and the development of relevant mechanisms, such as those in the fields of space environment governance, near-earth objects monitoring and response, planet protection, space traffic management, and the development and utilisation of space resources,” according to the white paper.

Domestically, China will speed up the formulation of a national space law and establish a legal system with this law at the core, to promote law-based governance of the space industry.

(Reporting by Ryan Woo; Editing by Michael Perry)