China to promote high-quality development of satellite communication industry

China to bolster non-Western alliances at summit, parade

BEIJING: China will promote the high-quality development of the satellite communication industry by optimizing business access, according to a set of guidelines unveiled by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

The guidelines aim to promote the launch of satellite communication services, stimulate the vitality of innovation in the commercial space sector and foster new drivers of productivity in an orderly manner, all of which is aimed at supporting China’s transformation into a manufacturing power and a cyber power, as well as the construction of a Digital China.

By 2030, China aims to improve the management system, policies and regulations for satellite communication, optimize its industrial development environment, and boost the integrated development of infrastructure, industrial supply, technical standards and international cooperation, according to the guidelines.

New business models and forms such as direct satellite connection for mobile phones will be applied widely, and the number of satellite communication users will exceed 10 million, per the guidelines.

They state that the country will support the accelerated development of low-orbit satellite internet, promote the application of direct satellite connection for mobile phones and other terminal devices, encourage the exploration of new satellite communication businesses, and expand market access for private enterprises.

They also encourage the application of satellite communication in various industries and fields, including agriculture, transportation, energy and urban governance. They promote the cross-integration of satellite communication with new-generation information infrastructure, including areas such as the industrial internet, vehicle networking and air-borne communication.

The country will also strengthen its development of key core technologies, build an open and shared standards system, and foster a mutually beneficial industrial ecosystem, per the guidelines.

China to bolster non-Western alliances at summit, parade

China’s President Xi Jinping will host world leaders including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and India’s Narendra Modi from Sunday for a summit before a huge military parade as he seeks to showcase a non-Western style of regional collaboration.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit will be held Sunday and Monday, days before the military parade in nearby Beijing to mark 80 years since the end of World War II, which North Korea’s Kim Jong Un will attend.

The SCO comprises China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Belarus — with 16 more countries affiliated as observers or “dialogue partners”.

China and Russia have used the organisation — sometimes touted as a counter to the Western-dominated NATO military alliance — to deepen ties with Central Asian states.

As China’s claim over Taiwan and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have seen them clash with the United States and Europe, analysts say the SCO is one forum where they are trying to win influence.

More than 20 leaders including Iranian and Turkish presidents Masoud Pezeshkian and Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend the bloc’s largest meeting since its founding in 2001.

Hosting this many leaders gives Beijing a chance to “demonstrate convening power”, said Lizzi Lee from the Asia Society Policy Institute.

But substantial outcomes, she added, are not expected as the summit would be more about optics and agenda-setting.

“The SCO runs by consensus, and when you have countries deeply divided on core issues like India and Pakistan, or China and India, in the same room, that naturally limits ambition,” Lee told media.

Beijing wants to show it can bring diverse leaders together and reinforce the idea that global governance is “not Western-dominated”, she added.

Assistant Foreign Minister Liu Bin said Friday that the summit will bring stability in the face of “hegemonism and power politics”, a veiled reference to the United States.

Putin’s attendance comes as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky insists that a meeting with him would be “the most effective way forward”.

While US President Donald Trump has pushed to broker a Ukraine-Russia summit, Moscow has ruled out any immediate Putin-Zelensky talks.

Putin at the SCO summit will likely seek to demonstrate Russia’s continued support from non-Western partners to promote its narratives of the cause of war and “how the ‘just’ end of the war will look like”, said Dylan Loh, an assistant professor at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.

“With Putin in the room, the war will hang over the proceedings,” Asia Society’s Lee said, but added that the topic of Ukraine would not be “front and centre” of the summit.

“The SCO avoids topics that divide members, and this one obviously does,” she told AFP.

But Putin will want to show that he “is not isolated, reaffirming the partnership with Xi, and keeping Russia visible in Eurasia”, Lee added. Agencies