China praises Pakistan SatNav collaboration

China has signalled it anticipates further collaboration with Pakistan around Beidou, the middle kingdom’s satellite navigation constellation. Beidou is another example of China building infrastructure it uses to strengthen alliances around the world. The SatNav constellation covers all of China and stretches north to Japan, …

[wolfetone]

What's the Chinese for "The enemy of my enemy is my friend"?

[Francis Boyle]

The real question is

why isn't Pakistan the friend of their enemies (the Uyghurs). So much for Muslim solidarity when there are deals to be done.

[Anonymous Coward]

Why build their own?

Surely they could just buy some shonky satellites from a bankrupt company and repurpose them?

[crayon]

"All of which shows China using technology to advance its interests."

Isn't that stating the bleeding obvious.

[david 12]

"Armed Conflict"

You don't have to be imagining "armed conflict" to have a reason for developing your own technology or to have a reason for pork-barreling your own industry. Sometimes it's useful to pretend that "armed conflict" is your reason for supporting what President Eisenhower called "the military-industrial complex", or sometimes, as with maps and GPS, it's just something that everyday civilians find useful. As with the Chinese, Indian, Russian, and European "positioning systems"

The English maps were traditionally provided by "Ordinance Survey" -- a branch of the military. But American maps were traditionally provided by "Geological Survey" -- a branch of the mining industry. Governments support GPS services for all kinds of reasons, and "Armed Conflict" is by no means the main reason for subsidizing your own development in China, Russia, or India.