China's State Council, or the cabinet, in principle, approved the country's 11th five-year plan on space development at a conference on Thursday.

Addressing the conference, Chinese Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan stressed that the 11th five-year period (2006-2010) is key to China's space development.

China should give priority to a manned space flight, lunar exploration, new launch vehicle, high-resolution earth observation, he said.

Zeng said that China should promote industrialization of space technologies and attach great importance to the development of telecommunication, navigation and remote sensing satellites.

Space technologies should support and push China's economy and provide stable, continuous and high-quality services for telecommunication, weather forecasting and maritime investigation, among others, he said.

Zeng stressed that China should also encourage non-governmental investment in the space sector.