Visitors to the hall showcasing China's aerospace industry at the Third Zhuhai Air Show in this southern Chinese city are first confronted with China's space ambitions in the form of two huge Long March Rockets.

One of the rockets carries the Shenzhou (Divine Vessel) space capsule that orbited the earth 14 times last November in an unannounced flight, the first unmanned test flight of China's untried manned space program.

Now another newer version of the Shenzhou, weighing less than 100 kilograms (220 pounds), is expected to be launched soon and will also serve as preparation for the first-ever Chinese manned space flight scheduled for "early in the 21st century".

"Several other unmanned flights are necessary before we can launch a manned mission," Luan Enjie, director of the State Aerospace Bureau, said during a press conference.

Chinese officials say they will take no safety risks in the program, which has fueled a patriotic propaganda campaign some 40 years after the first manned space flights by the United States and former Soviet Union.

"We must guarantee 100 percent safety in the flights," said Zhang Hongbiao, deputy director of the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.

But besides the propaganda value of success, foreign experts here said the flight of the Shenzhou was an important step in China's conquest of space and its efforts to put a space station in orbit.

"It's a very important first step. China's efforts to develop its military capacity in space must be taken very seriously," said Richard Fisher, a specialist on Asian military issues at the Washington-based Jamestown Foundation.

Following its manned space flights, China will begin efforts to explore the moon using robots being built by Qinghua University in Beijing with Japanese parts, said the Zhuhai Daily, the official paper of the air show.

"China has achieved basic approaches for landing astronauts onto the moon," the paper said, adding that China was leaning more towards first developing methods to extract lunar resources before landing a man on the moon.

For the exploration of Mars, China would be more willing to seek joint international efforts, the paper said.

For Fisher, China's different space projects were very important for the trickle-down effect that such high profile scientific successes would have for the country's entire scientific and industrial fields.

The ultimate objective of the Chinese authorities was to put a national space station in orbit, because it was highly unlikely that China would soon be participating in any international projects because of ongoing differences with the United States.

"In 10 years' time, they will have their own space station, which will be able to conduct scientific and military research," Fisher said, doubting Chinese promises to never use space research for military purposes.

China's space station was expected to be the size of the Russian Salyut, which was capable of conducting biological, genetic and energy research, but could also be used as a platform to spy on potential adversaries or try to develop lasers capable of blinding other satellites, he said.

Using lasers to disable other satellites is easier to do in space where the problems of the earth's atmosphere does not block the laser's function.

"In the case of a conflict with Taiwan, US satellites would be the first target for the Chinese army," Fisher said.

If China succeeded in placing a space station in orbit, it was not unlikely that satellite arms would be some of the earliest equipment installed, he said.

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