China's satellite system should worry the world

The world needs to keep a close watch on China's increasing technological prowess. The Chinese navigation system today occupies the third place in the world, after the USA's GPS and Russia's GLONASS.

Communist China's readiness to share its indigenous BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) with other nations indicates it is determined to spread its influence the world over technologically.

Observers say China has long been determined to lessen its dependence on the USA's Global Positioning System (GPS) and establish its own supremacy in the field. Its satellite navigation system has now become a top-class system with cutting-edge technologies. The communist nation first tested its home-grown Beidou satellite navigation system in 2000. The system has already won a stamp of approval from the Maritime Safety Committee of the International Maritime Organization.

The Chinese navigation system today occupies the third place in the world, after the USA's GPS and Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS). Beidou can provide positioning data of adequate accuracy for its coverage area.

China has mandated the use of the system in its government departments, including public security, disaster relief and tourism. The application of Beidou in China includes use in guiding drones, autonomous cars, agriculture, forestry, and smart phones.

China today is for more and more nations in the world to adopt its navigation system. Beidou set up a first of three Continuously Operating Reference Stations (CORS) for its network in Thailand in 2013. The BDS has a constellation of 30 satellites in orbit. It is in use in more than half of the world's countries.

Saudi Arabia is using Beidou in surveying and mapping, positioning people and vehicle in the desert. Tajikistan is using BDS to monitor dams and lakes with precision. Lebanon is using BDS at Beirut port for marine survey and construction. Burkina Faso is using it for survey and construction of hospitals.

Since 2020, Beijing has made an outreach to South Asia. It has been working with a number of countries in the region, including Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, to get them go in for its navigation system.

The world needs to keep a close watch on China's increasing technological prowess. Communist China has had imperialistic designs under the pretext of the Chinese version of communism. The spread of its navigation system around the world might be helpful in reaching this goal. The nations in China's neighbourhood, against which Beijing has had well-documented aggressive territorial designs, may need to be specifically cautious about growth in Chinese influence in the region.

(Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York)

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