The successful landing of the Cheng'e 3 probe on the moon on Saturday and the smooth separation of the Jade Rabbit lunar rover from the lander on Sunday make China the third country to own such space technology after the former Soviet Union and the United States.

Yet, the significance of such space technology goes far beyond earning the country the name of a technological powerhouse.

And it moves the country closer to greater cooperation with the space programs of other countries for the further exploration of space for the well-being of people around the world.

Given the rapid increase in the global population and the dwindling of many resources, breakthroughs in the exploration of space and the peaceful use of the resources on the moon or Mars might be a choice mankind has to make in the near future.

China has been making efforts in this regard for the past more than three decades. That it has successfully sent its own rover to the moon on its own speaks volumes for what it has achieved in space technology.

But it is never enough for a single country or just a couple of countries to conduct space missions.

As Chinese leaders have reiterated time and again, China's rise will be peaceful and the country's exploration of space will also be peaceful.

So what the country has achieved and the foundation it has laid for making further breakthroughs in this regard bodes well for the world's joint efforts to peacefully explore the universe in the near future.

Domestically, citizens should realize the large sums of money that are used to develop the space technology are not being spent on a vanity project. Every specific technology and technique to develop the Chang'e 3 and the Jade Rabbit rover and send them to the moon has profoundly consolidated the strength of the nation's science and technology.

And the application of these technologies to the production of consumer products will greatly promote the country's manufacturing industry.

The painstaking efforts that many scientists and technicians in this field have made and the devotion they have displayed to their work should also encourage and inspire their counterparts in other fields.

The significance of this moon mission is really beyond estimation.

(China Daily 12/16/2013 page8)