China is taking on GPS in the Pacific region via the Beidou satellite system. Beidou means “Big Dipper” and is now providing service to people in the Pacific region with the aim to go global by 2020. The Chinese claim Beidou can already be received in Australia and New Zealand.
This is the latest in a series of Chinese statements to challenge the West and in particular the USA’s authority on Technology. China wish to offer alternatives to the status quo.
Sina Weibo is the Chinese version of Twitter,
Renren is the equivalent of Facebook,
and youku is their YouTube.
The Chinese also have founded an alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize named after Confucius.
China have displayed their willingness to do things their way, for example they have rejected the West’s transport policy of increasing air travel in such a large country by investing in High Speed Rail and all the various bridges and other engineering projects they had to complete in order to connect her cities.
China’s space program may be in its infancy but they also have aspirations to put a Chinese astronaut on the moon very soon and have a space station in orbit by 2020.
And China have recently received their first ever Aircraft Carrier, which may really be redundant in an age of Stealth Bombers which can attack targets from the US Mid West, but it is a symbol of just how serious they are about being a true global superpower.
How successful will the Chinese versions be of all these established products and services remain to be seen. Can they be competitive and attract other customers? But with a domestic market of over 1 billion people the question is do they need to?
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