WESTERN aerospace companies are vying to participate in the $20 billion (£12 billion) Chinese space programme, which is set to launch its first manned mission on Wednesday.

Boeing intends to pursue joint space projects with Beijing once the launch of the Shenzhou-5, a craft based on a decades-old Russian Soyuz design, has been completed. “We are certainly very interested,” David Wang, president of Boeing China, said. A spokesman added: “Co-operation may come sooner than expected.”

EADS, the European aerospace consortium that builds Airbus, is also seeking a slice of the burgeoning Chinese space programme. A spokesman in Munich confirmed that the consortium had held talks with the Chinese about the space programme.

Both groups have asked Beijing about the possibility of sharing expertise and contributing manufacturing solutions. Any extra income earned would serve to fill holes left by the decline in demand for civil aircraft. China’s first manned mission into space is the start of what Beijing hopes will be a broad programme of space exploration, designed to boost national prestige and give the world’s most populous country access to Western military applications.

Missions to the Moon and Mars and establishment of a space station are planned over the next decade. However, to achieve either aim, China will need help from the US.

However, concern over how China intends to use its growing space knowledge may lead Washington to set limits on how much assistance US companies can give to Beijing.

Boeing is one of Nasa’s biggest contractors and operates the space shuttle programme with Lockheed Martin.

Mr Wang said: “We really think it is a matter of Nasa and what they want to do. Until Nasa feels the US should co-operate with China on space — and I think they should, the time has come — our hands are tied.”

China’s space programme is estimated to have cost up to £12 billion over the past 11 years. Although the project is highly classified, there are precedents for foreign participation that bode well for Boeing and EADS.

Over the past decade China has built a successful commercial satellite launch business with the help of overseas contractors. Last month, Beijing also signed an agreement with the EU to participate in its Galileo satellite programme.

In 2002 Boeing earned $11 billion from work on space programmes, mostly for Nasa. That accounted for 20 per cent of the aircraft manufacturer’s revenue.

EADS, the world’s third largest aerospace group after Boeing and Lockheed, made just €2.1 billion (£1.48 billion) from space, 7 per cent of its global revenue.

Boeing and Airbus have excellent government contacts in China, a top commercial aircraft customer for both groups. In terms of orders, Airbus has recently overtaken Boeing in what is expected to be the world’s second largest market for aircraft by 2020.

Airbus China says its market share is 22 per cent, up from 6 per cent eight years ago.