The GPS Blackout That Changed Everything for China

A CCTV program revealed on June 8 that the United States cut off GPS navigation signals in the early 90’s and left a Chinese cargo ship stranded and adrift in the Indian Ocean for 33 days. The vessel was ultimately forced to accept a boarding inspection by U.S. personnel — and the humiliating episode gave China a sobering lesson in the strategic importance of navigation technology, setting the country on the arduous path of developing its own BeiDou satellite system.

"Changan Street Insider" — a WeChat public account under Beijing Daily — reported that CCTV disclosed the 1993 incident during a program titled "Spacesail Constellation Accelerates Network Deployment: China's Low-Orbit Satellite Internet Launches Its Strategic Breakthrough." The program laid bare how the U.S. leveraged GPS as a strategic chokehold on China.

In 1993, the U.S. cut off GPS signals — leaving China's cargo vessel Yinhe adrift in the Indian Ocean for 33 days, then forced into a U.S. boarding inspection.

As China's cargo vessel Yinhe was sailing through international waters in the Indian Ocean, the United States abruptly cut off GPS signals in that sea area. The Yinhe lost all navigational bearings and drifted helplessly for 33 days. It was then forced to submit to a U.S. boarding inspection.

This was not an isolated incident. The repeated episodes drove home a single, unambiguous conclusion for China: the lifeline of positioning and navigation must be in its own hands. From that point on, China embarked on the long and difficult road of independently developing the BeiDou system.

The episode was a wake-up call: China's navigation lifeline had to be its own. BeiDou was born.

In 2020, the BeiDou-3 global network was completed, and China finally reclaimed control over its own navigation. But even as that battle was won, a new one was opening — and the window was closing fast.

In low-Earth orbit, the available space and timing for China become more limited by the day. Elon Musk's Starlink has been occupying that territory at an unprecedented pace. As of June this year, Starlink has more than 12,400 active satellites in orbit — accounting for over 60% of all active satellites globally.

China is also facing a rapidly closing window of opportunity. The International Telecommunication Union operates on a "first filed, first served" principle. Whoever launches first and begins providing service wins priority rights — and the clock ticks for everyone equally.

China launched the Spacesail Constellation program in 2021.

In 2021, China began developing the "Spacesail Constellation" — formally named as the Global Multimedia Satellite System. Its primary target markets are countries co-building the Belt and Road Initiative, Chinese companies expanding overseas, and regions that Starlink cannot reach or has been cut off from due to political factors.

Spacesail is now launching at a relentless pace — and closing the gap fast.

The Spacesail Constellation is planned in three phases. Phase one targets 1,296 satellites, expected to be completed by 2027. Phase two will add approximately 10,000 more satellites, with the aim of exceeding a 10,000-satellite network by 2030. Phase three ultimately targets more than 15,000 satellites, supporting integrated multimedia and remote sensing capabilities within the 6G ecosystem.

In late 2025, China filed to register orbital resources for 203,000 additional satellites across 14 constellations.

In December 2025, China submitted a filing to the ITU that sent shockwaves through the global aerospace community. The application sought to register frequency and orbital resources for an additional 203,000 satellites, covering 14 satellite constellations including both medium and low-Earth orbit satellites. It is the largest concentrated international frequency and orbital registration submission China has ever made.

Every satellite launched under the Spacesail Constellation is filling a closing window of time. From the first experimental satellite in 2003 to the intensive launch campaigns of June 2026, the Spacesail Constellation is catching up at a visibly rapid pace. This is not merely a commercial race — it is a strategic breakthrough that China cannot afford to lose.

Mao Paishou

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Zhejiang has become the hottest stop on any foreign leader's China itinerary. In just over three months — from late February to early June this year — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, and Lao Party General Secretary and President Thongloun Sisoulith all made Zhejiang a core part of their visits. 

That so many are arriving in delegations says something. Zhejiang has quietly become a magnet for those chasing the future — in industry, in the digital economy, in how development itself gets reimagined. 

Zhejiang has recently become an absolute must-visit destination for foreign leaders touring China.

Every single one of their itineraries featured a moment with robots. That recurring scene has become a signature of Zhejiang's diplomatic circuit. Chancellor Merz — the first foreign leader to visit China this year — flew directly from Beijing to Hangzhou. 

Merz‘s first stop was the new headquarters of Unitree Robotics in Binjiang District. In the exhibition hall, humanoid robots performed martial arts. When the "Wu BOT" — a robot featured in the Spring Festival Gala — completed high-difficulty jumps and flips, Merz was the first to applaud, nodding continuously.

In the components display area, the Chancellor from the "nation of engineers" picked up one of the robot's rubber "shoes" and rubbed it in his hands, examining it like a precision craft. The dozens of German corporate executives accompanying him raised their phones to film the demonstrations. One guest even took a robot's hand and danced a waltz. The whole scene looked like a massive, collective industry factory tour.

China's first visiting foreign leader this year, Merz flew straight from Beijing to Hangzhou — first stop: Unitree Robotics.

Serbian President Vučić drove to Minth Group's future factory in Jiaxing. At the entrance, five Agibot Lingxi X2 humanoid robots stood in a row, hands on hips, dancing gracefully to traditional Serbian Kolo music. Vučić later wrote on social media: “They dance better than me.”

Vučić watched quadruped robots conduct inspections, humanoid robots write calligraphy, mix cocktails, and perform Chinese martial arts. He marveled: This place is like the 22nd century. He then revealed that Serbia plans to partner with Agibot and Minth to build Europe's first large-scale humanoid robot production base, with mass production expected to begin between 2026 and 2027.

Serbian President Vučić at the Minth Group's future factory in Jiaxing.

Serbian President Vučić at the Minth Group's future factory in Jiaxing.

Lao President Thongloun chose to visit Deep Robotics — one of Hangzhou's "Six Little Dragons." He watched both humanoid and quadruped robots demonstrate their capabilities, then operated a quadruped robot himself via remote control. When a humanoid robot waved to welcome him, a beaming Thongloun waved back. When the robot handed him a gift, he said three clear words in Mandarin: "Xie xie ni" — thank you.

Lao President Thongloun chose to visit Deep Robotics – one of Hangzhou's "Six Little Dragons."

The numbers tell the story. Last year, Zhejiang's total robotics industry output reached 70.71 billion yuan. Industrial robot production hit 72,900 units — a 36.4% year-on-year increase. The province has also cultivated 20 national-level typical application scenarios in areas such as smart eldercare and digital healthcare. Zhejiang-made robots, led by companies like Deep Robotics, have accelerated their overseas expansion, landing in Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Korea.

If robots showcase Zhejiang's hard-core innovation, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz's visit spotlighted its soft power in the digital economy. Shehbaz braved the rain to head straight to Alibaba's Hangzhou headquarters as his first stop in China. His focus: the digital economy that Alibaba represents.

At the negotiation table in Hangzhou, the blueprint Shehbaz outlined had moved far beyond the railways, highways, and airports that dominated China-Pakistan cooperation for decades. He described a far grander digital ecosystem: AI digital training for 10,000 Pakistani small and medium-sized enterprises to connect them with global buyers; a "digital foundation" adapted to the local Urdu language; and the introduction of medical AI to address a shortage of imaging doctors.

During the visit, Alibaba International Station, Daraz, Alibaba Cloud, and DAMO Academy signed agreements with Pakistani institutions including the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority, the National Technology Fund, and cloud computing company Sky47. Shehbaz also attended the China-Pakistan B2B Investment Summit in Hangzhou. He framed the shift memorably: "Our friendship goes back to the days of silk road, when goods were transported through mules and camels and donkeys. Today here we are. Everything is now being operated through digitalization. And China excels in this field more than any other country in the world." He expressed his hope to build Pakistan into the "little China" of the region.

Zhejiang's appeal runs deeper than any single industry showcase. As a powerhouse of the private economy, the province has nurtured over two million Zhejiang merchants — the Zheshang — now spread across more than 180 countries and regions. This is the "sweet potato economy": the tubers take root and grow strong locally, while the vines stretch across the globe. The result is a cohort of Zhejiang enterprises with formidable internationalization capabilities.

Minth Group entered Serbia as early as 2018 and has since built 10 factories there. During Vučić's visit to Jiaxing, Minth, Shanghai Huizhong, and two other enterprises signed investment agreements with Serbia, adding over 900 million euros in new investment.

Zhejiang is also China's trailblazing province for common prosperity. Its urban residents' per capita disposable income has ranked first among all Chinese provinces and autonomous regions for 25 consecutive years; for rural residents, that figure stretches to 41 consecutive years. The province is also China's first ecological province.

During his visit, Lao President Thongloun made a special trip to Yucun village in Anji — the birthplace of the concept that "lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" — as well as the local homestay community, Xiaoyin Banri Village. He went there to learn about rural revitalization and green development. 

In every village he visited, Thongloun set aside time to chat with villagers and homestay owners. Lao Ambassador to China Somphone said in an interview that China's development experience in areas like poverty eradication is highly useful to the world, and that Laos will base its efforts on its own national conditions to adapt the experiences learned in China.

From Merz giving a thumbs-up to robots at Unitree Robotics, to Vučić declaring in Jiaxing that "this place is like the 22nd century," to Thongloun saying "thank you" in Mandarin to a Deep Robotics machine — these vivid moments are decades of hard work made visible. Zhejiang has arrived. It now serves as a brand-new window onto China's new quality productive forces. As Vučić stated before leaving, he would undoubtedly return to Zhejiang with joy, as everything he had witnessed there had left him deeply astounded.