China is planning to build a satellite launching complex on an island in the South China Sea.

The country's plans for a more ambitious space programme continue to be released as fragments of information from official and unofficial sources.

For several weeks there have been rumours in the space community that China was planning something spectacular to celebrate fifty years of the communist state. One possibility was an unmanned test of a spacecraft designed to carry passengers but October 1 came and went without event.

$200m plan

More definite are China's plans for a new launch base. Long Lehao, vice director of the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, announced that China had preliminary plans for a new cosmodrome on the southern Chinese island province of Hainan.

The Chinese already have significant rocket technology

The space flight centre will most probably be built on the eastern side of the island, not far from the town of Sanya. The cost of the project is estimated to be about 2,000 million yan (about $200m). Lehao said that foreign investment would be considered.

At present China operates three cosmodromes: at Xichang, Jiucuan, and Taiyuan. Experts say that Hainan could replace them all.

Equatorial advantage

The new site would have many advantages, according to Long Lehao. Being closer to the Earth's equator it can take fuller advantage of the Earth's spin.

Using the same rocket, Hainan could launch up to seven percent larger payloads than Xichang and up to 12% more than Jiuquan, which is even further north.

Launching from an island over the ocean is also safer, say officials.

Space race for business

China has clearly been making a renewed effort to boost its space effort. Despite US government restrictions, China has been able to launch a few satellites for paying western customers.

The upgrading of its launching and tracking facilities has prompted speculation that it is planning a space spectacular like a manned space flight.

Experts put that possibility at least two years away. Photographs recently smuggled out of China show the construction of what could be a manned spacecraft based on the highly successful Russian Soyuz design.

This rocket could launch Chinese astronauts