Some foreign leaders have recently extended their warm congratulation to China over the successful mission of the Shenzhou-7 spacecraft.

The leaders include Lesotho's King Letsie III, Nigerian President Mamadou Tandja, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki, Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, Cameroonian President Paul Biya, Senior-General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar, Myanmar's Prime Minister General Thein Sein and its Foreign Minister U Nyan Win; Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Gia Khiem of Vietnam; and Prime Minister Faustin-Archange Touadera of the Central African Republic.

The leaders said the first spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut once again proved China has become one of the world's major powers in space science. It also showed China has taken a solid step forward on the path of peace, opening-up, cooperation and harmonious development, they said.

The leaders also expressed their belief that the Chinese people will continue to make still greater achievements in technological development and the country's modernization.

The Shenzhou-7 space module, with three astronauts on board, landed safely by parachute on September 28 in China's northern grasslands after a 68-hour flight. The mission included the first ever spacewalk by a Chinese astronaut.

(Xinhua News Agency October 8, 2008)