Article Posted on : - Jan 22, 2011

A file photo

NEW DELHI (PTI): Emphasising on regional and international talks for formulating rules of operation in space, Congress on Friday said India is keen on bringing China into the dialogue network.

"There could be several trilateral partnerships in the space domain between India, US and Israel, and India, US and Japan. However, India will be happy to explore the possibility of bringing in China into this dialogue network," Congress MP and spokesperson Manish Tewari said.

The potential for cooperation in space domain is immense between the two Asian giants, he said here at the three-day international conference on 'Space, Science and Security: The Role of Regional Expert discussion'.

Tewari also called for "acceptable rules of the game" and "a global space coordinating agency" to prevent militarisation of space.

China, Japan and India have robust space programmes. The three countries should work together to avoid the kind of "competitive alternations" which were witnessed between the US, erstwhile USSR and Europe, he said.

"The need for regional and international dialogue and rules of operation cannot but be emphasised. At the regional level, it is fairly obvious that India will seek increasing cooperation with other space faring nations, most notably China, Japan, South Korea and Australia," he said.

India's space strategy, civil-military relations and Asian space race were discussed in the conference, organised jointly by Observer Research Foundation, Secure World Foundation, SIPRI and Jawaharlal Nehru University.