China to build first satellite for European nation

BEIJING - China will build and launch a communications satellite for Belarus, according to a contract signed between the two countries on Sunday in Minsk.

It is the seventh in-orbit delivery contract that China has signed, but the first with a European client, China Great Wall Industry Corp, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said on Monday.

"The contract with Belarus marks China's expansion of satellite in-orbit delivery service to the European market," said Yin Liming, president of China Great Wall Industry Corp, the only one in China authorized to conduct commercial launches for international customers.