Russia, China nod to integration of satellite systems
July 1, 2014, 5:36 am

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang (2nd R front) and Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin (1st R front) at the first China-Russia Exposition in Harbin, capital of northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, June 30, 2014 [Xinhua]

The document to let China’s Beidou and Russia’s GLONASS collaborate, was signed on Monday by the China Satellite Navigation Office and Russian Federal Space Agency on the sidelines of the on-going China-Russia expo in Harbin.

China’s homegrown Beidou Navigation Satellite System began providing initial positioning, navigation and timing operational services to China in December 2011. Beidou is compatible and interoperable with the world’s other major global navigation satellite systems, including Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS).

“We’d like to work with our Chinese friends in several space services – in cartography and communications. In the future, we’d like to create our own radio-resistant equipment and spacecraft vehicles,” Russian Vice Premier Dmitry Rogozin was quoted by Itar Tass agency.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang said in Harbin on Monday that the two countries will establish a working mechanism for collaboration in space exploration.

Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, said Russia and China plan to build monitoring stations in each other’s territory, which will promote the integration of the two satellite navigation systems.

“Our cooperation in the field of satellite navigation never targets a third party,” he said, adding that the integration of multiple satellite navigation systems must be the trend ahead internationally.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said the two systems, GLONASS and Beidou, “fit together well”.

Russia is also looking forward to cooperating with China in other aerospace fields, such as “the exploration of the Moon and Mars, rocket engine-building, piloted cosmonautics, the development of a long-range wide-body passenger airliner and modernization of the Russian heavy Mil Mi-26 helicopter”.

Russia is a major trade partner of China. In the first four months of 2014, the bilateral trade volume grew by 3.4 per cent year on year to $29.06 billion.

Rogozin said bilateral trade between the two countries could reach $200 billion before the slated target year of 2020.

“We have a task set by the leaders of Russia and China to raise the volume of our trade and economic relations to $200 billion by 2020. But I believe that if we proceed at such high rates and develop large, primarily infrastructural projects to help unite energy of Russia and China, then we believe that this figure can be achieved before that time,” Rogozin said.

TBP and Agencies