China Wants to Have Own Space Station By MIN LEE: Hu Shixiang, deputy commander in chief of the Chinese manned space engineering headquarters,

was asked whether China was spending too many billions of dollars on space when many of its people live in poverty, and he replied by saying the budget was small compared to the U.S. space budget, at only about one-tenth as much.

The space program is important for increasing social unity in a fast-developing China, he said.

"This social effect cannot be measured by other things," Hu said.