Budding space power China on Tuesday sought to counter fears of an Asian space race and accusations it is ignoring the needs of its poor in pursuit of glory.
"We will always adhere to the principle of the peaceful use of space," said Chen Qiufa, vice minister of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, in a government Internet forum.
He added that China would not engage in a space race.
China has hailed its recent space successes as a cause to celebrate the nation's economic and technological achievements.
It launched a space probe in October, the latest milestone in an ambitious exploration programme that has included recent successes with man-made satellites and manned space flights.
"Our lunar probe this time has no military purposes and the satellite does not carry any military device," he said of the Chang'e 1 orbiter.
China's ambitions have sparked fears of a space race, especially as regional rivals Japan and India push their own programmes.
Chen also sought to temper criticism of maintaining an expensive space programme when millions of its people still live in abject poverty.
Without providing specific figures, Chen said China was spending a mere 10 percent of the United States' 2007 expenditure on its space programme.
The lunar probe launch cost 1.4 billion yuan (189 million dollars), while a recent Japanese probe cost 2.5 times as much, he said.
China successfully launched astronaut Yang Liwei into orbit in 2003, making it the third country after the former Soviet Union and the United States to put a man in space.
Its third manned space flight is scheduled for late 2008 on a mission that will include three astronauts and China's first-ever spacewalk.
