Russia & China's space cooperation will benefit all of humanity: Chinese ambassador

Russia’s space cooperation with China will not only benefit the two countries but entire humanity, believes Zhang Hanhui, China’s ambassador to Russia. Speaking with Russian news agency TASS, he said that there is tremendous potential for cooperation in the space industry as it has become an important component of “comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction” between both sides. Hanhui's statement comes just days after Russia made it official that it is ending cooperation with western countries aboard the International Space Station (ISS).

Russian space agency Roscosmos' Director General Dmitry Rogozin had been warning the US and Europe of severing their ties in outer space ever since the West imposed heavy sanctions on Moscow for invading Ukraine. As the sanctions were tightened, Russia began suspending space projects with various space agencies while vowing to partner up with China. 

"I am certain that the consolidation of efforts of such strong players in the space industry as China and Russia will be precisely the case in which the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. It will benefit not just our two peoples, but the whole of humanity," Hanhui told TASS. 

China-Russia pushing ahead in space cooperation

Both the nations signed a Sino-Russian agreement in 2017 to collaborate on various projects including the moon and deep space. Elaborating on the same, Hanhui said that the countries are pushing ahead with "vast and fruitful cooperation" in areas such as exploring the Moon and deep space, crewed space missions, satellite navigation, remote sensing of the Earth and the development of space technologies and their applications. Calling Russia a "major space power", Hanhui mentioned China's recent success in space missions like the recent landing of the crewed spacecraft Shenzhou, which brought back three Chinese astronauts after a six-month-long mission. 

Recently, Russian cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov said that he is eager to join the first crew from his nation that would embark on a flight to the Moon. According to Dubrov, the first lunar mission will be dedicated to the testing of equipment, the spacecraft and ballistic pathways.