China Is Building Its New Silk Road in Space, Too

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H alf a century ago, China launched its first satellite1中国发射的第一颗人造地球卫星为“东方红一号”卫星，由以钱学森为首任院长的中国空间技术研究院自行研制，于1970年4月24日21时35分发射。, the very first object to be sent into space by the country.Now, satellites have become a central part in China’s globe-spanning infrastructure push.

[2]The Belt-and-Road Initiative(BRI)2“一带一路”倡议是“丝绸之路经济带”和“21世纪海上丝绸之路”的简称。aims to build trillions of dollars of infrastructure from Asia to Africa to Europe, and along sea routes too.Involving roughly 70 countries so far, it entails massive spending(and lending)by China on railroads, ports and energy projects, highways—and, increasingly,satellite launches.

[3]China has been exporting satellites for over a decade, but it’s become easier to think of them as“infrastructure”in recent years as capabilities increased without costs going up, according to Blaine Curcio, founder of Orbital Gateway Consulting, a Hong Kong-based satellite market research firm.Apart from providing critical time-keeping and weather forecasts, satellite internet service has become much more viable.

“A single satellite before might have been able to connect, for example, tens of thousands of broadband subscribers,it is now in the high hundreds of thousands or single-digit millions,”Curcio said.

This extra-terrestrial side of BRI advertises China’s growing high-tech prowess3prowess威力；本事。.

[4]Early this year, the state-owned satellite manufacturer China Great Wall Industry(CGWIC)struck a deal4strike a deal 达成交易。to allow Nigeria to procure5procure 采购，购买。two of its communication satellites, with financing provided by China in exchange for an equity stake6equity stake 股权。.Nigeria separately has at least$25 billion in new infrastructure projects funded by China underway since BRI was announced in 2013.CGWIC has also launched communication satellites for other BRI countries such as Laos and Pakistan, according to its website.

[5]In May, CGWIC helped launch a satellite for the Hong Kong-based operator APT Satellite to provide telecommunication and broadcast services for BRI countries, such as Mongolia and Myanmar.APT Satellite, which owns two made-in-China satellites, said it had found many“synergies”7synergy 协同作用，协同点。between its business and the infrastructure mission,according to its marketing director,Power Pan.APT’s satellites are helping a Chinese state-owned company building railways in Laos and Thailand to set up communications with its China headquarters, Pan said.

[6]In late 2016, China said it wants to use satellites built for communication, navigation, and remote-sensing to build a“Belt-and-Road spatial information corridor.”The state-directed plan aims to promote the Beidou satellite network8北斗卫星导航系统是中国着眼于国家安全和经济社会发展需要，自主建设、独立运行的卫星导航系统，为全球用户提供全天候、全天时、高精度的定位、导航和授时服务。, Beijing’s answer9answer足以媲美的人；堪称相当的事物。to the US Global Positioning System, and encourage exports of mobiles supporting the Beidou system.The Beidou system already covers 30 countries including Lao and Myanmar as of 2017.

[7]Private firms are also seeking opportunity through BRI.More than 60 Chinese private firms have entered China’s space business since 2015, when the government began encouraging private capital in the heavily state-controlled sector10state-controlled sector 政府控制的产业。, among them the Shenzhen-listed hardware maker Tatwah Smartech.■

半世纪前，中国发射了第一颗人造卫星，这是该国首次将物体送入太空。如今，卫星已经成为中国推进全球基础设施建设的一项核心内容。

[2]中国的“一带一路”倡议旨在建设价值数万亿美元的基础设施，将亚洲与非洲和欧洲联结，并同时兼顾海上线路。迄今已有约70个国家参与该倡议。它需要中国对铁路、港口、能源项目、高速公路等领域大量投资（和贷款），而卫星发射是一个越来越重要的投资领域。

[3]轨道门户咨询有限责任公司是总部位于香港的卫星市场研究公司，其创始人布莱恩·库尔奇称，中国出口卫星已经超过十年，鉴于卫星功能提升而成本并未上涨，近年来将卫星视为“基础设施”也更为容易。除了关键的计时和天气预报，卫星互联网服务已变得更加切实可行。

库尔奇表示：“过去单颗卫星可连接数以万计的宽带用户，而今这一数量上升到几十万甚至几百万。”

“一带一路”倡议中的太空领域建设彰显了中国日益提升的高科技实力。

[4]今年年初，国有卫星制造商中国长城工业集团有限公司达成一项交易，同意尼日利亚向其采购两颗通讯卫星，由中国提供融资以换取股权。自2013年“一带一路”倡议宣布以来，中国已至少投入250亿美元为尼日利亚建设新的基础设施项目。据长城公司网站介绍，该公司已经为老挝和巴基斯坦等其他“一带一路”沿线国家发射了通讯卫星。

[5]今年5月，长城公司帮助总部位于香港的亚太卫星公司发射了一颗卫星，为蒙古、缅甸等“一带一路”沿线国家提供通讯和广播服务。亚太卫星公司拥有两颗中国制造的卫星，其营销主任帕尔·潘称，公司业务与“一带一路”基建之间有很多“协同点”。该公司正在利用卫星帮助一家在老挝和泰国修建铁路的中国国有企业与其中国总部建立通讯联系。

[6]2016年底，中国表示希望利用通信、导航和遥感系列卫星打造“一带一路空间信息走廊”。该计划由国家主导，旨在推动北斗卫星网络建设（北斗系统可与美国全球定位系统媲美），以及促进支持北斗系统的移动设备出口。截至2017年，北斗系统已覆盖了包括老挝和缅甸在内的30个国家。

[7]私营企业也借助“一带一路”倡议寻求机遇。自2015年中国开始鼓励私营资本注入主要由政府控制的产业以来，已有超过60家中国私营企业进入了太空产业，其中就包括在深交所上市的硬件制造商中山达华智能科技股份有限公司。□

（译者单位：北京航空航天大学）