China's first quantum cryptography network has been successfully tested in Beijing, the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced on Monday.

The commercial communication network of the Chinese Network Company (CNC) was used to test the quantum network.

The testing was carried out by the Key Lab of Quantum Information under the University of Science and Technology. Leading scientist Guo Guangcan said that current cryptography faces challenges from quantum computers, because theoretically all codes can be deciphered.

But quantum information cannot be copied and any interception of quantum information is easily discovered, Guo said, adding that the new quantum cryptography is therefore "absolutely safe" and fully protected against decoding.

The research group successfully completed a 125-km fiber point-to-point quantum key distribution (QKD) experiment between Beijing and Tianjin in 2004, which solved the problem of stability in quantum cryptography systems.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2007)