The evolving China-Pakistan space cooperation

The Chinese space programme has undertaken major strides since it built and launched its first satellite in 1970.
In last half a century Beijing has conducted satellite launches, built its own navigation system, carried out successful spacewalks, and built and operated its own space station.
China is also in the process of undertaking a manned moon mission by 2030.

Chinese Space Co-operation

China has also consistently promoted its space technologies and pushed for cooperation under Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
This entails “a service network weaved by satellites and ground stations among the BRI partner countries has promoted the space industry to better benefit the local people”.
China has also used its launching platform, the Long March, to promote its soft power by launching satellite for a number of other countries.

China-Pakistan Space Co-operation

China Pakistan space cooperation began in 1990 with China launching Pakistan’s Badr-I satellite.
Today, China has built and launched satellites for Pakistan and in 2026 announced that it will send one Pakistani astronaut to the Tiangong space station.
China had also launched the ICUBE-Q in 2024 on Chang’e 6 orbiter. This was developed in a collaboration between the Pakistan’s Institute of Space Technology (IST) and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU).
The ICUBE-Q, a lunar CubeSat weighing about 7kg was to explore the far side of the moon.
It was successful in capturing images of the moon and the sun and transmitting them back to Earth.
The first Pakistani communication satellite PAKSAT–IR was launched in 2011.

BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS)

BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) is China’s indigenous navigation system.
It is also seen as the plausible alternative to the United States, Global Positioning System (GPS).
The BeiDou system is considered to be very precise with providing information with 2 centimetres precision and this can be improved to 5 millimetres after image processing.
This can be very helpful in disaster relief, urban planning, traffic guidance as well as environmental management.
In 2014 Pakistan became the first foreign country to use the BeiDou navigation system.
Under the China-Pakistan defence cooperation, the Pakistani military is all equipped to use the BeiDou system.
In 2020 Chinese Satellite Navigation Office (CSNO) had announced that they will be establishing a Continuously Operating Radar Station (CORS) network in Pakistan which will be BeiDou enabled.
The developments highlight that the ties between China and Pakistan has moved to the space arena as well, giving Islamabad a strategic advantage.