China's satellite development strategy has evolved into an essential component of the country's overall modernisation and economic development. Among them, the BeiDou navigation satellite is a significant success in the development of satellite technology in China. The development and use of this system is critical to mainland China's national security and economic development, and it is a significant national scientific and technology project decided and implemented by the Communist Party of China. China has devised a "three-step" development strategy for the BeiDou satellite navigation system, with the first phase being the pilot system (first generation system) developed since 1994, followed by the official system (second generation system) developed since 2004. The third step aims to cover the countries of the "One Belt, One Road" initiative by 2018, and the worldwide satellite navigation function will be accomplished by 2020.
On July 31, 2020, Chinese Communist Party President Xi Jinping announced the formal launch of the Beidou-3 worldwide satellite navigation system, as well as the completion of the original plan with the installation of all 30 Beidou-3 global satellites. This achievement brings a fully autonomous and controllable global satellite navigation system to mainland China, allowing it to compete with other global positioning systems such as the United States Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia's Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), and the European Union's Galileo positioning system.
The BeiDou satellite navigation system will deliver more precise and efficient satellite navigation services to mainland China, as well as more complete and open satellite navigation alternatives to the rest of the world. The development strategy of China's continental satellite technology, for example, is centered on the Beidou navigation satellite, which reflects the strategic direction of continuously expanding independent innovation capacity and boosting Chinese mainland modernization.
This study will investigate the impact of China's land satellite development strategy on Indo-Pacific security, using the Beidou satellite as an example for in-depth analysis, and applying Wendt's constructivist theory's "adversary symbiosis" model to investigate the impact of China's policies, organization, and resources in space development on the development of US-China relations.
China's "military-industrial complex" in particular is an essential pillar of the country's space industry development. This paradigm has allowed China's space sector to receive significant backing from national resources while also being intimately linked to national defense and economic issues, resulting in an industrial edge. Mainland China's "inner solidarity of the self-group" goal is to strengthen its worldwide position by developing high-tech capabilities in space, as well as to strengthen its own inner solidarity and unite its people. At the same time, China has done an amazing job of establishing the role of the opponent as the enemy, employing the "projecting identity" method, so that the space race has become a never-ending conflict between two opposing camps.
China has achieved significant progress in recent years in the field of civil-military integration, particularly in high technology. The advancement of these technologies is critical not only to China's economic development and national defense construction, but also to global security and stability. With the United States and China increasingly at odds militarily and technologically, the growth of high technology in mainland China will have a significant impact on the international security scene.
Taiwan must monitor the evolution of China's military situation and have a forward-thinking deployment and defense structure in place to deal with future changes in the new technology environment.