BEIJING - China is not competing with other countries with its space program, said Wang Zhaoyao, director of China's manned space program office, here on Friday.

Wang made the remarks at a press conference after three astronauts returned from the country's first manned space docking.

"We are not aiming to catch up and surpass other countries, nor to compete with anybody else. We just develop the program based on our own needs," Wang said, in response to a question on whether China has the ambition to become the world's leader in space program.

"China's space program is developing steadily as scheduled and planned by the government," he said.