Xi addresses nation's youth

President Xi Jinping has called upon the young people working in China's aerospace sector to courageously pursue innovation and breakthroughs and to contribute more strength to the nation's self-reliance in aerospace science and technology.

Xi made the remarks in a letter replying to a team of young people working on the space station program at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the flagship of the nation's space industry, on Monday, two days ahead of China's Youth Day, which falls on May 4 each year.

The letter from the team reminded him of an exchange he had with young researchers during a trip to the corporation nine years ago, said Xi, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

He noted that China's aerospace sector has kept making history over the past nine years, citing the nation's Tiangong-series experimental capsules, Beidou Navigation Satellite System, Chang'e lunar missions, Tianhe space station core module, Tianwen 1 Mars probe and Xihe solar exploration satellite.

In those programs, a large number of young people took on major responsibilities, which showcased the enterprising spirit of Chinese young people in the new era, he said.

Xi said continuous endeavors from one generation after another would be needed to build China into a power in the aerospace sector.

He expressed hope that young Chinese people will carry forward the spirit that was evident when the nation developed its nuclear bombs and ballistic missiles and launched satellites in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as the launch of manned spaceflights, and that they will live up to their potential in the nation's space programs.

On May 4, 2013, the president visited the China Academy of Space Technology, under China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, spoke with representatives of young people and took part in a thematic youth event.

As this year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Youth League of China, the young team working on the space station program in the corporation wrote to Xi on behalf of the 80,000 young people in the corporation and conveyed their determination to work together to turn China into a space power.