The Guardian China has proclaimed its boundless confidence in the future with a set of grand plans which include placing a robot on the moon.
China says it already has the technology to build small space laboratories staffed by robots.
It also intends to take part in international missions to explore Mars. Plans for the first railway to Lhasa across the frozen wastes of the Tibetan plateau were confirmed yesterday in Hong Kong. The project ground to a halt in the 1980s because of expense and technical difficulties. The line should be completed, he said optimistically, within four years. The route will scale a formidable moun tain pass to enter Tibet in the Amdo region, notorious for fierce winter blizzards.