China is busy making "full preparations" for a manned spaceflight later this year and would consider a successful mission a milestone in the country's history, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said yesterday.

Kong Quan, a ministry spokesman, insisted he had no concrete information about when the mission to send a Chinese astronaut -- known as a "taikonaut," after the Mandarin word for space -- into orbit would begin. China has indicated it would send a man into space by the end of 2003.

But Kong said the country was proceeding apace.

"We hope we can realize that goal, sending a man into space, as soon as possible," he said, smiling, at a regular briefing. "I can't provide any information. I wish I could."

Kong added: "We are trying to make full preparations to realize our goal."

A successful mission would make China the third country -- after the former Soviet Union and the United States -- to launch a manned spacecraft. China's first four spaceship launches, Shenzhou I through Shenzhou IV, have been unmanned research vessels. Shenzhou V -- the name means "sacred vessel -- would include a human being.

Last week, Science and Technology Minister Xu Guanhua said that preparations for the Shenzhou V launch are moving ahead "extremely smoothly."

(Eastday.com September 24, 2003)