China reached a milestone in its space technology by launching trials for its Beidou satellite global positioning system. This will make it come closer to its only competitor US. If China successfully launches its 35 satellites as scheduled by 2020, it will be free from current dependence for navigation on the U.S. global positioning network (GPS) signals and Russia’s similar GLONASS system. This will be a breakthrough in the precision attack capability of the PLA.

This technology will be imperative for Chinese military, alongside the expanding surveillance, imaging and remote sensing satellites. China denies that the satellite network will pose a military threat.

China accelerated its efforts on space technology after 1996 when PLA found out that it could not track US aircraft on the Taiwan Strait. Though China still lags behind US and Russia in this technology, however, it is rapidly becoming state –of –the-art competitor in the space surveillance.

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