"China's Own Satellite Network Beidou to Become Major Competitor to US GPS"

"Linked to the Belt and Road Initiative, Used in 120 Countries"
"Immediate Threat to US GPS Unlikely but Market Encroachment Feared Soon"

[Image source=AP Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] American experts have assessed that China's own satellite navigation system, Beidou, has not yet reached a level to technically threaten the GPS operated by the United States. However, they predict that as the Belt and Road Initiative (land and maritime Silk Road) expands, the system will extend its user base and is likely to compete with the US GPS in the future.

According to CNBC on the 31st of last month (local time), Craig Singleton, a researcher at the US private research organization Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), stated in an interview with CNBC, "China's own GPS, the Beidou system, is unlikely to technically surpass the US GPS immediately, but China is entering the competition to expand its market share."

In particular, as China pushes forward with the Belt and Road Initiative, it is encouraging the use of the Beidou system in the countries involved in the project, gradually expanding its market. Researcher Singleton explained, "In over 120 non-Western countries, including Pakistan and Thailand, the Beidou system is being established in connection with the Belt and Road Initiative."

The Beidou system is China's own GPS system, officially launched by the Chinese government in July last year. It is a satellite communication network built by launching a total of 50 satellites from 2000 until last year. Currently, only four entities possess their own GPS systems: the United States, Russia, the European Union (EU), and China. Among them, the US has the most commercial satellites at 35 and almost monopolizes the global civilian and military GPS market.

The Chinese government expects that through the Beidou system, it will gain independence from the US GPS and that the market size of Beidou will expand to about 1 trillion yuan (approximately 175 trillion won) by 2025. China's Xinhua News Agency reported, "Beidou has surpassed 100 million global service users, and China's satellite navigation industry market is growing at an average annual rate of over 20%."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.