On 25 May 2003 China launched a locally made navigation and positioning satellite. A Long March 3-A rocket carried this Beidou satellite, which is the third in the series of navigational satellite launches. This latest launch was the 28^th consecutive successful launch of the Long March 3-A vehicle since October 1996. The first two navigation satellites were launched in 2000 (October 31 and December 21) in near geostationary orbit.

 

The current launch is expected to play an important role in the Chinese economy, offering navigation for transportation, petroleum production, telecommunications and public security. However, Taiwan?s military has said that this launch might have military applications. The Americans are also closely monitoring China?s progress in space technologies.

 

This launch completes China's new location-finding systems programme. With this constellation in space China is able to pinpoint positions for its industrial, military and economic assets at any given time and place. The Beidou Navigation System is an all-weather and round-the-clock operating system. Most importantly, this technology would be available to the 2.5 million strong People's Liberation Army, which has been modernizing its infrastructure.

 

In the early 1980s China began to utilize other countries' navigational satellites and developed its own technology, which is now being used for land survey, ship and aircraft navigation. For the last many years China was dependent on American GPS and Russian GLONASS navigational systems. China's aerospace industry has probably integrated GPS and GLONASS guidance technology into its fighters and helicopters. It is expected that China's new fighters will incorporate GPS navigation systems.

 

There are indications that China?s military-backed industries have also entered into joint ventures with foreign firms to produce GPS receivers, which may find their way into military weapons. On 20 June 1998, a Washington Post report by Walter Pincus revealed that a 1997 Defense Department report had concluded that the Chinese military were using the American Global Positioning System (GPS) to "improve the accuracy of its weapons and the situational awareness of its operating forces".

 

However the question arises why the Chinese have established an independent navigational system, when accurate systems like the GPS are publicly available? There could be many reasons operating. Most importantly, China understands that the GPS facility is controlled by the Defense Department of the United States. During hostilities, this system may be closed for outside agencies. This could have informed the Beidou Navigation Test Satellite (BNTS) programme.

 

China is laying considerable importance on space technologies for many years. Events in the last decade have confirmed the wisdom of the Chinese investment in this field. Gulf War I & II and campaigns in Kosovo and Afghanistan have shown that the US seeks to undertake its operations by exploiting the various space technologies that its opponents do not possess. In the Chinese perceptions there are some prospects of its conflict with the US over Taiwan in the near term future. Hence, from the Chinese point of view, they must have catered for reducing their dependence on the American GPS.

 

Dependence on GLONASS was also not a favourable option. Firstly, GLONASS is not a very accurate system in its existing format. Only ten GLONASS satellites are currently functioning. These ten satellites provide good coverage of Russia, and parts of Europe and Asia, but not worldwide. GLONASS's deterioration is a result of Russia's poor financial situation; hence, China must have decided to opt for an indigenous system.

 

The current Chinese system of three BNTS satellites may not be as accurate as GPS but may serve its purposes. This system is in geostationary orbit and not in circular orbit (like GPS/GLONASS). It overlooks China in the region 80Ë? to 140Ë? East covering almost the whole of China, Indian Ocean and the Taiwan region. Hence the system will provide adequate support to cater for the Chinese threat perception.  They are planning to launch a few more navigational satellites in the near future; hence, it is expected that the system will always remain functional.

 

Missiles hold priority in China's developing strategy and doctrine over their air or naval forces. Missiles allow the PLA to compensate for its weaknesses but also to exploit the deficiencies in the military forces of US, Japan, and Taiwan, because there are no really effective missile defense systems. From this viewpoint, a dependable navigational system is of great importance.

 

Most importantly this capacity will give China a seamless tactical-to-strategic targeting capability in the Taiwan Strait. At the international level, it makes a statement about its major ambitions in space technologies.