BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to the ceremony for the start of assembly of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which took place on Tuesday at the megaproject's headquarters in France.

The active explorations and practices through the past over 10 years have fully proved that open exchanges are a key route for exploring scientific frontiers, Xi said in the message.

Noting that science is not bound by national borders and innovation is an endless endeavor, Xi said international scientific and technological cooperation is critical to addressing global challenges faced by mankind.

The ITER project embodies the human desire for the peaceful use of fusion energy, Xi said, adding that since the launch of the project, China has honored its international commitments, and Chinese entities and scientific researchers have taken on difficult tasks and collaborated closely with their international colleagues, contributing Chinese wisdom and strength to the smooth progress of the program.

As the world is tackling severe challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, humanity needs now more than ever to forge partnerships and overcome hardships, stressed the Chinese president.

China, he said, stands ready to continuously strengthen cooperation and exchanges in scientific research with all parties, and work together to achieve breakthroughs in key areas of science and technology, promote scientific and technological innovation across the globe, and make new contributions to the betterment of lives in all countries and sustainable development of the whole world.

The ITER program is one of the largest and most important international scientific research project in the world. China officially joined the program in 2006.