In late September, China hosted the fifth China–Arab states BeiDou Cooperation Forum. Launched in 2017 with scientists from the Arab League and the China National Space Administration, the forum is designed to advance the compatibility and uptake of China’s BeiDou satellite system. BeiDou is one of several such global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) in operation around the world today. Others include the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), India’s Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC), and the European Union’s Galileo. These systems, while developed primarily for their defense capabilities, also have numerous important civilian applications for agriculture, fishing vessels, civil aviation, consumer electronics, and more. Many Middle East countries are eager to develop interoperability with existing satellite systems for those commercial and scientific applications, and China is emerging as the most proactive advocate of its own system. This convergence prompts two questions: What are the military implications, and how should the United States respond?
China’s Push for Satellite Cooperation in the Middle East | The Washington Institute
