The system has been built over two decades to rival the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS). Its chief designer Yang Changfeng told state broadcaster CCTV the launch was “entirely successful” and “signifies that we are moving from being a major nation in the field of space to becoming a true space power.” (CNBC, The Guardian)

Talking point: This was the second attempt to complete the US$10-billion navigation network after technical issues postponed a scheduled launch a week ago. As of late last year, about 70 percent of Chinese smartphones already supported BeiDou, and more than 100 partners had lined up to use the mapping technology. It is now one of four global navigation satellite systems in the world, including the GPS, the European Union’s Galileo and Russia’s GLONASS. India is also building its own navigation system. Shi Yinhong, an international relations expert from Renmin University of China in Beijing, told South China Morning Post the completion “can be seen as one of the latest signs of a hi-tech decoupling between China and the United States.”