The design and technical performance of China's satellites lag far behind western countries, Zhou Zhicheng, a researcher from the Chinese Academy of Space Technology, said in a report by the Xinhua news agency.

China needs to reform designs and management philosophy, said Zhou, a leading light in the satellite industry.

He suggested more exchanges with foreign companies.

China's 30-year-old satellite industry has no problems developing launching mechanisms, but has been struggling to develop high technology satellites that perform effectively.

The country controls nine percent of the satellite launch market with 25 foreign-built satellites launched from there since 1980.

China hopes in the future to be able to provide a complete package, producing and launching satellites in collaboration with other countries.

In the past three decades, China has sent more than 40 satellites into space, including 10 communication, 17 recoverable, five meteorological, two atmosphere, 10 technical experimental and one earth resource observation satellite.

Most of the satellites work well, especially the recoverable and communication satellites, said Li Zuhong, president of CAST.

Li told a conference in Beijing that China will prepare to enter the world market by mass producing satellites in a fast and economical manner, focusing on quality.

China will also speed up the production of large capacity communication and broadcasting satellites, Li said.

The country plans to launch ten new weather satellites over the next decade, to improve forecasting and be able to predict floods and other natural disasters more precisely.

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