Wenchang (China), Sep 14 (Xinhua) China Monday began construction of its new space launch centre in Wenchang city, on the northeast coast of the tropical island province of Hainan. It is scheduled to be completed by 2013.

The launch centre would allow China to take part in more international commercial space launches, said Wang Weichang, director of the Hainan Space Center Project Headquarters.

He said the new launch site will be mainly used for launching synchronous satellites, heavy satellites, large space stations, and deep space probe satellites.