China is making rapid gains in space tech. Here's how the military could use it
While China says its ambitious plans remain peaceful and that it rejects the weaponisation of
space , some of the technologies it has developed in recent years also have military uses. Here are some of them.
BeiDou network
The Chinese navigation satellite system provides positioning, navigation and timing services worldwide.
Its network of 60 satellites has been in full global operation since 2020, with the final backup satellites launched in 2024.
BeiDou – a symbol of China's growing tech self-sufficiency – aims to challenge the dominance of GPS, the global positioning system run by the US military, especially in Belt and Road Initiative countries.
Besides its civilian applications, BeiDou provides navigation and positioning services to all branches of the Chinese military with even higher precision in the Asia-Pacific than GPS offers the US military. That enables independent guidance for Chinese missiles, bombs and other precision munitions, with high accuracy. The
People's Liberation Army can also use BeiDou's short messaging function to communicate.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong's digital-asset strategy aims to solve ‘real economy problems', Chris Hui says
Hong Kong will facilitate more use cases for stablecoins and other tokenised financial products, part of the city's effort to build a trusted and sustainable digital-asset market that can tackle real-world economic problems, said the architect of the strategy. Eleven cryptocurrency exchanges have been licensed by the Securities and Futures Commission to operate in Hong Kong, a sea change over three short years after a raft of policies, regulations and guidelines were put in place to put the city on the leading edge of financial technology. More initiatives are in the works, said the Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, Christopher Hui, as Hong Kong becomes the crucible for testing the best global technological solutions for real-world problems. 09:07 Hong Kong charts new phase as digital asset hub with policy blueprint, says FSTB chief Chris Hui Hong Kong charts new phase as digital asset hub with policy blueprint, says FSTB chief Chris Hui 'Finance serves the purpose of easing the smooth operation of the real economy, the value chain, the movement of goods and services, and the transfer of assets and products,' Hui said last week during an interview with the Post. 'I would try to cast our sights even further: it is about Hong Kong [as] a value creator [and] a solution provider for some real economic issues and challenges in the region and across the world.' This was the first time that Hui, an Oxford-educated economist before he entered public service in 1999, laid out the government's strategy across the entire spectrum of digital assets, from cryptocurrencies to stablecoins to central bank digital currencies Based on the principle that similar rules should apply to similar risks, his bureau has formulated regulations for four 'blocks' of digital assets: exchanges, stablecoin issuers, dealing service providers and custodians. The latter two are now part of the legislative proposals in consultation, which is expected to close at the end of next month to address investors' needs for sourcing liquidity, block trading and asset safekeeping. A currency exchange in Causeway Bay with a bank vault painted on its gate on May 5, 2024. Photo: Jelly Tse.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China's AI glasses market takes shape as Xiaomi's entry inspires early adopters
Chinese tech giant Xiaomi's entry into the country's burgeoning artificial intelligence (AI) glasses market is likely to benefit from the gadget maker's expansive ecosystem and supply chain strength, according to early adopters and analysts. Several users who bought the Xiaomi AI frames when they were released last month found the first-person video recording and AI features useful for documenting personal moments and assisting with office tasks, although there were improvements and missing features they hoped to see in the gadget's future iterations. The Xiaomi AI glasses were handy for hands-free photography and videography, which was ideal for situations like cycling where the users' hands were occupied, according to a Singapore media industry worker surnamed Li. 'I cycled in the Hutongs when I was in Beijing recently. All I had to do was tell XiaoAI 'start recording', and it conveniently started filming [the ride],' Li told the Post last week. Xiaomi unveiled its first AI glasses in June, entering a popular but crowded market. Photo: Handout Pan Yanzhuo, a Beijing-based photographer, said Xiaomi AI's first-person video shooting angle 'offered a unique and fun perspective'. 'I like using it to shoot videos when I'm playing card games,' Pan said.
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China's cyber nationalists target maths star Hong Wang over lectures in English
It was a golden opportunity for academic exchange when Chinese mathematician Hong Wang , a contender for a top award, gave lectures at universities in Beijing last month, but instead her overseas experience and use of English made her an unexpected victim of rising nationalism in China. The 34-year-old mathematician earned global attention last year when a paper she co-authored solved the three-dimensional Kakeya conjecture – a century-old problem in geometric measure theory. The study, with implications for imaging, data processing, cryptography and wireless communication, makes her a leading contender for the Fields Medal, regarded as the Nobel Prize of mathematics. Winners of the prize, awarded every four years, will be announced next year. Wang was born in the southern city of Guilin. She graduated from Peking University then completed a postgraduate degree in France and a doctorate in the US. She is now an associate professor at the New York University Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. She will join Institut des Hautes Etudes Scientifiques near Paris as a permanent professor of mathematics starting in September, according to an announcement in May. Last month, she gave seminars on her research at Peking University, Beijing International Centre for Mathematical Research, Capital Normal University, Tsinghua University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with every venue full and bustling with attendees.
