Arya News - Competition between the United States and China over navigation systems is intensifying.
SHENYANG / WASHINGTON – China is broadening its influence as it expands overseas deployment of services connected to its BeiDou Navigation Satellite System.
Some observers have pointed out the system has potential military applications, and the United States is on alert, aiming to counter it through strengthening cooperation with Japan and Europe.
Competition between the United States and China over navigation systems is intensifying.
Global coverage in 20 years
China Central Television reported that BeiDou-related products and services had spread to more than 140 countries and regions worldwide as of the end of July. It is reportedly being used for autonomous agricultural tractors in Turkey and for dam monitoring in Tajikistan.
The broadcaster boasted that “BeiDou has evolved from China’s BeiDou to the world’s BeiDou.”
Late July marked six years since the launch of the latest BeiDou-3 system. Chinese President Xi Jinping is calling on countries to adopt the system through organizations such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.
The primary targets are member states of the Belt and Road Initiative, an economic zone project led by China. The spread of BeiDou is being driven by technical assistance and affordable services that are easy for developing countries to adopt.
BeiDou was developed as a result of military concerns. China was shocked by U.S. military precision strikes during the Persian Gulf War, which made full use of the U.S.-developed Global Positioning System (GPS).
This led to China starting development of its own system in 1994.
During the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, the U.S. jammed GPS signals used by the Chinese military, leading to widespread belief in China that it had lost the ability to track some of the missiles it had launched off the coast of Taiwan.
Driven by concerns over losing combat capability if GPS is jammed in a crisis, China launched its first satellite in 2000 and completed a system covering the entire globe in about 20 years.
Rivaling GPS in accuracy
BeiDou’s positioning accuracy for general use is said to be around 10 to 15 meters, approaching GPS at 5 to 10 meters.
The Wall Street Journal reported in July that some experts say BeiDou can provide data with accuracy comparable to or better than GPS, depending on location and weather conditions. China plans to build a next-generation system with even higher accuracy and greater resilience by 2035.
The United States is wary of its possible military application. China is said to be providing Pakistan, an important country in its strategy toward India, with location data that supports military operations.
There is also a view that Iran, currently at war with the United States, is reducing its dependency on GPS and increasing its use of BeiDou.
“Iran’s precision in counterattacks is improving. It appears China is providing detailed location data,” said Masayuki Masuda, head of the China Division of the Department of Area Studies at the National Institute for Defense Studies.
He explained that, if information from the Iranian side is shared with China, “it will also contribute to the Chinese military’s shift toward intelligence-driven operations, where various types of information are integrated using artificial intelligence to enhance operational capabilities.”
There is also a view that the widespread adoption of BeiDou will lead to an expansion of the Chinese military’s operational range.
Series of interference incidents
The United States is growing increasingly wary of the Xi administration, which advocates the use of civilian technology to strengthen military capabilities, known as the Military-Civil Fusion Policy.
Cooperation with allied and friendly nations is the cornerstone of its countermeasures. The U.S. is promoting interoperability between GPS and positioning systems from Japan, Europe and other regions, aiming to strengthen its open satellite network.
Efforts to enhance the resilience of GPS itself are also being accelerated.
There have been a series of incidents in Europe, including Russia jamming satellite positioning systems in order to counter drone attacks from Ukraine and exert pressure on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
The U.S. Space Force plans to launch next-generation GPS satellites as early as 2028, which will be more than 60 times more resistant to jamming than conventional models.
It has been pointed out that China could jam the U.S. military’s GPS if the United States and China clash in situations such as a Taiwan contingency. Anticipating a scenario where GPS is unavailable, the U.S. Navy is working to secure alternative means such as reviving training in celestial navigation, determining a ship’s location based on the position of stars.
Efforts to secure alternative systems are progressing. However, Ken Moriyasu, a senior fellow at Washington-based Hudson Institute highlighted concerns surrounding GPS. “The U.S. military is increasingly reliant on digital communications, meaning even the world’s strongest military could face functional collapse if GPS were to suffer a blow,” he said.
He added that the Chinese military is also enhancing cyberattack capabilities. “Concerns are continuing to grow.”
Japanese system lagging behind
By Tomoko Kito / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Japan is also independently developing its Michibiki Quasi-Zenith Satellite System. The Cabinet Office is developing it as Japan’s own version of GPS. It successfully launched an H3 rocket carrying the Michibiki No. 7 positioning satellite on Aug. 11, bringing the total number of such satellites in use to six.
The government aims to establish a seven-satellite system capable of providing accurate positioning data within approximately 5 to 10 meters covering Japan and its surroundings using Michibiki alone, even if GPS becomes unavailable in an emergency.
The government has future plans to expand the system to 11 satellites, including spares in case of a failure, and add a function to correct positioning errors with a goal of achieving an accuracy of 1 meter.
The seven-satellite system will not be completed until fiscal 2031 at the earliest. Once completed, the system can be utilized for various applications, such as autonomous driving technology and precision guidance for drones.
There also are high expectations for its role in national security. By using encrypted signals accessible to the Self-Defense Forces, the system will prevent malfunctions caused by jamming or signals, thereby facilitating real-time tracking of troop and naval vessel movements.
However, major countries have already established global satellite networks: Russia has GLONASS with 24 satellites and Europe has Galileo with 27 satellites, leaving Japan behind.