Xi: Build world-class spaceport

President tours Wenchang launch facility in Hainan

President Xi Jinping has called on the Wenchang Space Launch Center in the southern island province of Hainan to build itself into a world-class spaceport.

Xi made the remark on Tuesday afternoon as he visited the launch complex, the newest and southernmost of its kind in China.

Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that the Wenchang center must uphold a spirit of hard work and perseverance, research the latest developments in the global space field and the strategic needs of China's space industry, strengthen its sense of mission and responsibility, take the lead in innovation and comprehensively boost its space launch capabilities.

He stressed that the facility is tasked with servicing China's new-generation, heavy-lift carrier rockets and it plays a significant role in the country's deep-space exploration endeavors, making it quite unique in the nation's space sector.

The president said the center should make full plans and preparations for upcoming launch missions, which will deploy multiple spacecraft in orbit to complete China's Tiangong space station. It should strive to make all these missions successful and make new achievements to welcome the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, which is scheduled to be held later this year.

Accompanied by General Zhang Youxia, a vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission, and several other high-ranking military officers, Xi inspected launch towers and other infrastructure and listened to a report about the center's condition and development plan and the preparatory work for upcoming missions.

According to a report on China Central Television, Xi was given a guided tour of the assembly and testing halls of the Tianzhou 4 cargo spaceship and the Long March 7 carrier rocket that will take the cargo craft into space.