South Africa Wednesday congratulated China on the launch of its first manned spacecraft, terming it as an encouragement to the African nation and all other developing countries.

Andrew Aphana, spokesman for the Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology, told Xinhua that South Africans are proud to associate themselves with the success of the People's Republic of China's first manned space launch and hope to participate in future commercial advantages this may hold.

Martyn Davies, director of Emerging Market Focus and an expert in Chinese-African relations, said, "Space is no longer the monopoly of the developed world. It is good to see that a country representing the developing world can achieve such a success."

Few South Africans were aware of the fact that a Chinese space tracking ship was docked alongside Cape Town's Table Bay harbor. It has until now been a tightly held secret. However, it is interpreted as a sign of cooperation with the Chinese space program and there is hope that it could help open the doors for future commercial cooperation.

"The launch has made China only the third nation to achieve a manned space flight after the United States and the former Soviet Union -- a prize for which the Chinese government invested 11 years of planning and many resources, Davies said.

It is a prize to be shared by all developing nations among which China counts itself -- and more specifically for South Africa and Africa as whole, he said.

South Africans are aware that there have been some discussions between China and members of the University of Stellenbosch satellite division of the faculty of sciences, he said, adding that there will now be renewed hope of further cooperation, especially in the field of commercial applications.

China has already achieved a lot with the use of its Long March rocket launch vehicle to develop commercial satellite applications. This could be adapted for use such as optimal exploitation of agriculture in South Africa and Africa as a whole, he said.

"It opens the door to new avenues of cooperation between developing countries in the realm of space," Davies added.

The University of Stellenbosch has developed a successful microsatellite division and has done research for countries such as Malaysia and Saudi Arabia. There have been talks with China and now there is hope for closer ties in future, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2003)