China lunar exploration on course

 By Masood Sattar Khan

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The deputy chief designer of China's lunar exploration programme, Yu Dengyun, has said that the preparations were progressing smoothly and the Chang'e-5 probe will make a soft landing on the moon and bring samples back to earth by end 2020. 

Yu revealed this at the ongoing 2020 China Space Conference in Fuzhou, capital of east China's Fujian Province which concluded on September 19. 

China's current lunar programme involves three phases, comprising of orbiting, landing, and return. The first two phases have been completed successfully, Yu informed.

The Chang'e-5 probe is expected to realize lunar sample collection, takeoff from the moon, rendezvous and docking on lunar orbit and high-speed reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, marking breakthroughs in China's aerospace history, he added. 

According to Yu, China was conducting a further verification study for the research and development of space station and the manned lunar mission, and it planned to set up an unmanned lunar research station for manned landings on the moon.

Pakistan-China friendship above CPEC: Ambassador Yao

 By Masood Sattar Khan

(Pakistan News & Features Services)

The Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan, Yao Jing, remained convinced that Pakistan-China friendship was much above the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). 

"CPEC is not the whole thing. We were friends even before the CPEC. There is no doubt CPEC has strengthened the bonds further but the brotherhood is much above a project," he said to a loud applause by the journalists who had come to say good-bye to a friend of Pakistan. 

Ambassador Yao has completed his tenure in Pakistan and will soon leave for Beijing. He has been replaced with the nomination of Nong Rong, Head of Ethnic Affairs Commission of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region 

Speaking at the farewell reception, with an emotional and victorious voice, the senior diplomat remarked that CPEC could not be stopped or delayed on the wishes of the conspirators. 

"Yes, there are conspiracies but CPEC is going on smoothly. I am very satisfied with the pace of work. Let the conspirators do their job as we focus on development and prosperity," he asserted. 

The envoy said he will miss Pakistan as he had spent 11 years of his career in the country under different capacities. "When I first came to Pakistan, I was a junior diplomat. And as I complete my tenure now as the ambassador, I am more in love with Pakistan. I don't know when I will return to Pakistan but my heart and soul will remain in Pakistan," he declared amid the thumping of desks and clapping.