PARIS, Oct 26: Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji informed the French Research Minister Ms Claudie Haignere, that China will be shortly sending into space its own first cosmonauts, during a meeting in Beijing on Friday.

The French minister is also France’s first female cosmonaut.

“We will be sending our own cosmonauts into space in the coming months,” the Prime Minister was reported as telling Mrs Haignere and her delegation.

Mr Zhu Rongji also used the meeting with the French ministerial delegation to let it be known that much of China’s plans with regard to its scientific future depended on its collaboration with France, and noted in particular that he “counted on France” to allow China to take part in a number of scientific and space-related projects, among them the International Space Station and the EU Galileo programme that will see Europe set up its own GPS navigation-by-satellite system, and this against the wishes of the United States who attempted vehemently earlier this year to block the programme.

The Chinese Prime Minister also noted, in passing, that Mrs Haignere — who first went up into space in 1996 as part of the US-Russian MIR mission — would be most welcomed to take part in a future Chinese space mission. Mrs Haignere, who was recently named France Minister of Scientific Research, was accompanied by her husband, fellow French cosmonaut Pierre Haignere.