China Is Building Its New Silk Road in Space, Too

By

H alf a century ago, China launched its first satellite1中國發射的第一顆人造地球衛星為“東方紅一號”衛星，由以錢學森為首任院長的中國空間技術研究院自行研制，于1970年4月24日21時35分發射。, 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“一帶一路”倡議是“絲綢之路經濟帶”和“21世紀海上絲綢之路”的簡稱。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 達成交易。to allow Nigeria to procure5procure 采購，購買。two of its communication satellites, with financing provided by China in exchange for an equity stake6equity stake 股權。.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 協同作用，協同點。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北斗衛星導航系統是中國著眼于國家安全和經濟社會發展需要，自主建設、獨立運行的衛星導航系統，為全球用戶提供全天候、全天時、高精度的定位、導航和授時服務。, Beijing’s answer9answer足以媲美的人；堪稱相當的事物。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 政府控制的產業。, among them the Shenzhen-listed hardware maker Tatwah Smartech.■

半世紀前，中國發射了第一顆人造衛星，這是該國首次將物體送入太空。如今，衛星已經成為中國推進全球基礎設施建設的一項核心內容。

[2]中國的“一帶一路”倡議旨在建設價值數萬億美元的基礎設施，將亞洲與非洲和歐洲聯結，并同時兼顧海上線路。迄今已有約70個國家參與該倡議。它需要中國對鐵路、港口、能源項目、高速公路等領域大量投資（和貸款），而衛星發射是一個越來越重要的投資領域。

[3]軌道門戶咨詢有限責任公司是總部位于香港的衛星市場研究公司，其創始人布萊恩·庫爾奇稱，中國出口衛星已經超過十年，鑒于衛星功能提升而成本并未上漲，近年來將衛星視為“基礎設施”也更為容易。除了關鍵的計時和天氣預報，衛星互聯網服務已變得更加切實可行。

庫爾奇表示：“過去單顆衛星可連接數以萬計的寬帶用戶，而今這一數量上升到幾十萬甚至幾百萬。”

“一帶一路”倡議中的太空領域建設彰顯了中國日益提升的高科技實力。

[4]今年年初，國有衛星制造商中國長城工業集團有限公司達成一項交易，同意尼日利亞向其采購兩顆通訊衛星，由中國提供融資以換取股權。自2013年“一帶一路”倡議宣布以來，中國已至少投入250億美元為尼日利亞建設新的基礎設施項目。據長城公司網站介紹，該公司已經為老撾和巴基斯坦等其他“一帶一路”沿線國家發射了通訊衛星。

[5]今年5月，長城公司幫助總部位于香港的亞太衛星公司發射了一顆衛星，為蒙古、緬甸等“一帶一路”沿線國家提供通訊和廣播服務。亞太衛星公司擁有兩顆中國制造的衛星，其營銷主任帕爾·潘稱，公司業務與“一帶一路”基建之間有很多“協同點”。該公司正在利用衛星幫助一家在老撾和泰國修建鐵路的中國國有企業與其中國總部建立通訊聯系。

[6]2016年底，中國表示希望利用通信、導航和遙感系列衛星打造“一帶一路空間信息走廊”。該計劃由國家主導，旨在推動北斗衛星網絡建設（北斗系統可與美國全球定位系統媲美），以及促進支持北斗系統的移動設備出口。截至2017年，北斗系統已覆蓋了包括老撾和緬甸在內的30個國家。

[7]私營企業也借助“一帶一路”倡議尋求機遇。自2015年中國開始鼓勵私營資本注入主要由政府控制的產業以來，已有超過60家中國私營企業進入了太空產業，其中就包括在深交所上市的硬件制造商中山達華智能科技股份有限公司。□

（譯者單位：北京航空航天大學）