In 2003, a decade after the humiliation of the Yinhe incident – when a Chinese container ship was left stranded for weeks after the United States jammed its Global Positioning System (GPS) – Beijing set its sights on bypassing the American satellite network.

At first, it turned to the European Union, pledging €230 million (then US$260 million) to join the Galileo project, an independent satellite navigation system designed to reduce Europe’s reliance on GPS.

But the partnership did not last. Four years later, China was marginalised from full participation in Galileo amid European security concerns and the collapse of the project’s financing model, according to The New York Times.

That journey from exclusion to autonomy reflects a broader national drive: China’s determination to safeguard its national security by mastering critical technologies once controlled by others.

Beijing’s ambitions have steadily risen. In its 14th five-year plan, which covers 2021 to 2025, China identified deep-sea exploration and aerospace technology as vital to national security and called for “forward-looking and strategic” projects in these areas. It also proposed the construction of an “ice Silk Road” to strengthen China’s polar presence.