China is keen to move up the value chain and one pet project in the country's ongoing efforts to improve innovation and inventiveness is its Beidou network, marketed as as an alternative to the US global positioning system (GPS).
This month, Thailand became the first overseas client of Beidou, which also competes with similar satellite-based constellations such as Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS).
The Ministry of Science and Technology of Thailand signed a €250 million agreement to promote the use of Beidou in the country’s public sector.
It is a significant move as Thailand is an ally of the US, and choosing Beidou is a big vote of confidence in the Chinese system.
Disaster relief
China will build a national remote sensing system based on Beidou for Thailand and a large satellite ground station with an industrial park for the development and production of Beidou hardware.
With 16 navigation satellites already in operation, Beidou is aiming to reach 35 by 2020 and become a global GPS service.
China launched the first Beidou satellite system in 2000, and a preliminary version of it has been used in traffic control, weather forecasting and disaster relief work on a trial basis since 2003.
Beidou had previously been restricted to the Chinese military and government, but the plan is for Beidou to have a 70-80 per cent share of the Chinese market in related location services by 2020.
