Photo: Xinhua

Chinese President Xi Jinping inspected a military base in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province on Wednesday, during which he stressed the development of space monitoring and control capabilities.

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a speech to soldiers and officers at the base. 

"A country's strategic space assets must be well managed, well used, and well protected," Xi stressed, adding that more efforts should be put in safeguarding space assets by enhancing the abilities in emergency backup and survival systems, and information protection.

Xi fully acknowledged the important role the base in Shaanxi has played in China's aerospace development. He said that the military installation must adapt to the increased frequency of space launches and higher requirements for each launch, optimize organizational structure and renew monitoring techniques to ensure tracking is reliable and missions are successful. 

Xi also highlighted space traffic management to ensure a stable and orderly operation of space systems. 

International cooperation on space security should be carried out to strengthen space crisis control and comprehensive governance.

During Xi's visit, he reiterated the spirits of China's space technology development, featuring patriotism, dedication, hard work and courage, to scale new heights in science and technology.

Global Times