There have been no reports of injuries or damage caused by the remnants of Chinese Long March-5B carrier rocket, said Hua Chunying, spokesperson of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday, responding to Western media claims that the rocket could cause damage when re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. 

The remnants of the rocket re-entered the Earth's atmosphere at 10:24 a.m. (0224 GMT) on Sunday, with most of the debris burning up and the rest landing in the Indian Ocean at a location near 72.47 degrees east longitude, 2.65 degrees north latitude, according to the China Manned Space Engineering Office.

The Chinese government has paid close attention to the re-entry of the rocket since it successfully sent the Tianhe core module into preset orbit last month, said Hua. During the re-entry process, China closely tracked the trajectory of the rocket and issued an announcement of the re-entry situation in advance.

"As far as I know, the last stage of the rocket has been passivated to prevent it from exploding in orbit and creating space debris," the spokesperson said, adding that most of its components were burned up upon re-entry, and the probability of causing harm to aviation activities and the ground is "extremely small."

China also shared the results of the re-entry forecast through international cooperation mechanisms, Hua added.

She pointed out that it is an international practice for carrier rockets, following their gradually decaying orbits, to finally burn up while re-entering the atmosphere.

'Double standard'

Hua stressed that China always carries out activities in the peaceful use of outer space in accordance with international law and practices, and is willing to expand international exchanges and cooperation on the issue of space debris, to ensure the long-term sustainability of outer space activities.

However, she said some U.S. media clearly have double standards on this issue, referring to the re-entry of a SpaceX rocket's remnants in March that was rendered as "a light show" which "lights up the sky."

She urged all sides to be objective and rational, saying: "We are willing to work with countries, including the U.S., to strengthen cooperation in the use of outer space, but we also oppose double standards on this issue."