China Sets 5-year Plan for Defense Sector

China has set research and development targets for its defense industry to meet the country's national defense needs and the development of the national economy for the five years through 2010, officials said in a report published on www.chinaview.cn Thursday. Major tasks include: the development of nuclear energy, a manned space program, a lunar probe program, civilian planes, and shipbuilding. China will work hard to achieve R&D breakthroughs in key technologies for the country's shipbuilding sector while giving priority to the country's three shipbuilding bases along the Pan-Bohai Rim in north China, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta, according to the report. (Source: www.chinaview.cn)