China on Tuesday set up a national expert committee on magnetic confinement fusion energy to ensure its implementation in the landmark multinational fusion energy project.

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) has been the largest ever scientific research program under multinational collaboration. The 11-billion-euro project is aimed at developing a sustained solution to energy production.

The committee, established by the Minister of Science and Technology (MST) and other government agencies, will supervise the implementation of China's share of ITER tasks and domestic research into fusion energy.

China is responsible for 9.1 percent of the total ITER budget, which is equal to the percentage shared by each of the other five participating countries. The EU will pay 45.4 percent of the budget.

Participation in the ITER project was part of China's systematic plan for developing cutting-edge fusion technologies, said Huo Yuping, China's chief coordinator in the project.

"The international collaboration will lay a solid basis for our own efforts in building bigger experimental reactors at home," said Huo, a Zhengzhou University professor and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

(Xinhua News Agency October 9, 2007)