China successfully launched a communications satellite, "Zhongxing-20A", at 12:09 a.m. Thursday from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province.

"Zhongxing-20A" would help improve the country's radio and television broadcasts, said a statement from the center.

The satellite was sent by a Long March 3A rocket into the preset orbit.

It was the 135th launch of China's Long March series of rockets since April 24, 1970, when a Long March-1 rocket successfully sent China's first satellite, Dongfanghong-1, into space.