China makes a statement.

Byline: The Register-Guard

Sending people into orbit is a questionable allocation of resources for any country, especially a poor one. Yet China evidently believes a manned space program is worthwhile, having successfully launched a "taikonaut" into orbit last week. The launch makes sense mainly as a matter of symbol, but the Chinese also had substantive goals in mind.

Symbolically, the Shenzhou 5 mission allows China to join the United States and Russia as the world's only spacefaring nations - even though China is not yet in the same league. The former Soviet Union first scored a comparable achievement more than 40 years ago, with the United States following soon after. China's launch is meant to be emblematic of its emergence as a power equal to any other, coming from behind but moving up fast.

Staking a claim to world-power status is important to China, whose long history has been capped in modern times by the humiliations of colonization, occupation and poverty. This week's space flight provides a tremendous boost to national pride: The country that centuries ago invented gunpowder and rockets has now proven itself capable of a spectacular, complex and costly technological feat. Such a demonstration was meant to burnish the patriotism of Chinese citizens, while not incidentally kindling warm feelings toward the government.

But the symbolic power of the launch extended beyond China's borders. By sending its first astronaut, Yang Liwei, into orbit, China has proclaimed itself the technological leader of Asia. India, which has a space program of its own and has announced plans for an unmanned lunar mission by 2008, is now in the position in which the United States found itself after the early Soviet successes in space. An Asian space race is a strong possibility.

China's space shot has economic implications as well. China has sent an estimated 70 satellites into orbit since 1970, and hopes to develop a commercial launch industry. But the reliability of Chinese launch vehicles has been spotty. The U.S. government also worries that allowing American companies to place payloads on Chinese rockets would result in unwanted technology transfers. The Shenzhou launch was an effective response to reliability concerns, and also was meant to show that China's space program has reached a new level of sophistication on its own.

Then there are the military dimensions. A nation that can put a man in space for 14 earth orbits can build missiles that can reach any spot on the planet. China's space program, like the space programs of all other nations, is closely connected to the military. The manned mission indicates that China has or will soon develop other space capabilities, including satellite surveillance. Indeed, a satellite radar to monitor submarine traffic near Taiwan is reportedly planned for 2005.

China, the world's most populous country with one of the world's fastest-growing economies, doesn't need a manned space program to be acknowledged as a force to be reckoned with. But sending a Chinese astronaut into orbit certainly underlines the point.