country to soft land a probe on the far side of the moon by 2018 and launch its first Mars mission by 2020

Chinese cabinet memo states the country wants to soft land a probe by 2018[CN]

中国国务院称，国家想要2018年软着陆（月球）进行探索。

Officials also wants to launch its first probe to Mars by as early as 2020 [CN]

官方人士也想尽早在2020年发起火星的首次探测。

Chinese government stressed it was only looking to explore space peacefully [CN]

中国政府强调，此举仅是为了寻求和平探测太空。

It is thought the ultimate desire of space programme is to land man on the moon [CN]

据信，此次太空计划的最终目的是载人登月。

Chinese astronauts Zhai Zhigang (R), Liu Boming (2nd R) and Jing Haipeng wave to well-wishers before the launch of the Shenzhou-7 manned spacecraft at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Gansu province, September 25, 2008[CN]

2008年9月25日，甘肃省酒泉卫星发射中心，神州7号载人飞船发射前夕，中国宇航员翟志刚，刘伯明和景海鹏向前来祝福的人群挥手致意。

China's Shenzhou-10 rocket blasts off from the Jiuquan space centre in the Gobi Desert in Jiuquan, northwest China's Gansu on June 11, 2013[CN]

2013年6月11号，在中国西北的甘肃省戈壁沙漠的酒泉太空中心，神州10号火箭起飞。

China's first moon rover touching the lunar surface and leaving deep traces on its loose soil on Sunday, December 15, 2013, several hours after the country successfully carried out the world's first soft landing of a space probe on the moon in nearly four decades[CN]

2013年12月15日，周日。中国第一台月球探测器落到月球表面并在蓬松的月球土壤上留下深深的辙痕。中国花上将近40年成为世界上第一个成功软着陆月球进行探索的国家。

China has vowed to speed up its space development as it set out plans to become the first country to soft land a probe on the far side of the moon as early as 2018.[CN]

中国誓要加大开拓太空力度，想早在2018年成为第一个在月球背面软着陆探测仪的国家。

The Chinese government has also indicated today its desire to launch its first Mars probe by 2020.[CN]

中国政府今天还透露了想在2020年发射第一个火星探测器。

'To explore the vast cosmos, develop the space industry and build China into a space power is a dream we pursue unremittingly,' a memo read setting out the country's space strategy for the next five years.[CN]

探测辽阔的宇宙，发展太空工业，把中国建设成太空大国是我们矢志不渝追求的梦想。这条标语道出了中国未来5年的太空战略。

Officials said China aims to use space for peaceful purposes and to guarantee national security, and to carry out cutting-edge scientific research.

The white paper, released by the information office of China's Cabinet, points to the growing ambitions of China's already rapidly advancing space programme. 

China places great emphasis on the development of its space industry, seen as a symbol of national prestige that will raise the country's standing in the world. 

Although the white paper doesn't mention it, China's eventual goal is to land an astronaut on the moon.

While Russia and the United States have more experience in manned space travel, China's military-backed programme has made steady progress in a comparatively short time.

Since China conducted its first crewed space mission in 2003, it has staged a spacewalk and landed a rover on the moon in 2013 — the first time humans had soft landed anything on the moon since the 1970s.

Last month, two astronauts returned from a month-long stay aboard China's Tiangong 2 experimental space station, the country's sixth and longest crewed mission. 

A fully functioning, permanently crewed space station is on course to begin operations six years from now and is slated to run for at least a decade.

The memo reiterated China's plans to launch its first Mars probe by 2020, saying it would explore and bring back samples from the red planet, explore the Jupiter system and 'conduct research into major scientific questions such as the origin and evolution of the solar system, and search for extraterrestrial life'.

The paper says the Chang'e-4 lunar probe will help shed light on the formation and evolution of the moon.

He Qisong, a space security expert at Shanghai University of Political Science and Law, said that achieving mankind's first soft landing on the far side of the moon is a newly stated goal. 

It indicates that China has mastered the underlying technology needed to land on a specific area of the lunar surface, he added.

'China never talks big and says something it's unable to achieve,' he said.