"The two parties expressed a willingness to promote Sino-American space cooperation to further contribute to constructive relations," Sun said.

Griffin said the meeting represented a good beginning, but many challenges remained.

China has proposed several actions to promote joint space efforts:

strengthened communication and increased mutual trust;

annual meetings to exchange views and foster the stable development of bilateral space cooperation;

joint exploration of fields where the two sides can cooperate;

and the elimination of obstacles to China-US ties.

"Griffin's visit begins a new chapter in China-US space cooperation," Sun said, adding that the trip follows agreements reached between the two countries during President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States in April.

China has established space industry cooperation with more than 40 countries and international organizations.

"I'm not well acquainted with China's capabilities, and one of the major purposes of this trip is to gain new insight into China's capabilities in space," Griffin said after his talks with Sun.

Griffin told a press conference yesterday that he was impressed by what he saw during his visit.

"China has clearly made enormous strides in a very short period in developing a space program," he told reporters.

"The United States has taken a first step toward helping establish a space program with China, but it's our get-acquainted visit, it's our exploratory visit and it's our first date," Griffin quipped.

The NASA chief also admitted there are possible impediments to progress.

"There are differences between our nations on certain key points," Griffin said, stressing that one of the major key sticking points is the control of missiles. Xinhua

Space co-op "hardly begun"
Beijing, Sept. 26 -- Collaboration between the United States and China on space programmes has "hardly begun," and the two sides desire to build closer ties.

This was the message delivered during the landmark visit of Michael Griffin, the first National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) administrator to visit China.

He arrived in Beijing on Saturday to talk with Sun Laiyan, administrator of the China National Space Administration (CNSA), and leaves for Shanghai today for another four-day visit.

"With this visit, the US is taking the first step towards helping establish closer relations with the space programme of China," Griffin told reporters at the US Embassy yesterday. "But again, collaboration on human missions would be well down the road."

Speaking about his talks with Sun, the NASA chief said: "We have agreed we'll continue governmental discussions between NASA and the CNSA at least once a year."

He said the two sides were exploring the idea of starting a working group in areas such as earth science, climate research, data sharing on various science missions, and robotic explorations.

"We believe that might be a productive thing to do, and we are going to explore it."

Anyhow, Griffin said: " I don't think the collaboration has been proceeding at too fast a pace. We are at the start rather than at the end. So we need to let it evolve."

The top US space official said China had clearly made "enormous strides" in a very short period of time in developing its space programme.

China, US to boost space cooperation

China and the United States are going to boost space cooperation. The chiefs from both national space administrations held talks on Sunday in Beijing. Qi Jie finds more about the first visit to China by a US space agency head, Michael Griffin.

A copy of an ancient Chinese book and a frame enclosing Chinese and US flags which flew in NASA space shuttle flight 121.

This marks the beginning of further space cooperation.

China and the US, along with Russia, are the only countries that can put people into orbit.

Sun Laiyan, director of China National Space Admin said, "We'll discuss areas that we can cooperate. And we'll pave the way to jointly promote Sino-American space cooperation to further contribute to constructive and cooperative relations."

The administration has announced the two countries will work together in space and earth science. They've also agreed to hold annual meetings on the development of their space cooperation.

Griffin is the highest-ranking US space official to visit China in the last 12 years, and he's eager to learn all he can.

Michael Griffin, NASA administrator said, "I'm not well acquainted with China's capabilities, and one of the major purposes of this trip is to gain new insight of China's capabilities in space."

Recent years have seen China team up with other countries to explore space. There's the earth resource satellite with Brazil, two "Double Star" scientific satellites with the European Space Agency, and various projects with Russia.

Understanding and trust are the thrust for launching Sino-US space cooperation.

Related Links
Read More About the Chinese Space Program