'Unforgettable humiliation' led to development of GPS equivalent

An 'unforgettable humiliation' the People's Liberation Army suffered during the Taiwan Strait missile crisis in 1996 prompted the mainland to build its own global navigation and positioning satellite system, a retired senior military official has disclosed.

Beijing has spent billions of yuan in the past decade developing Beidou 2, or Compass, which with 30 to 35 satellites by no later than 2020 promises to rival the American GPS.

While Beidou 2 has obvious commercial value, Beijing says the system is crucial to its military. PLA officials have on various occasions said the nation needs its own satellite positioning system, as Washington could deny access to GPS.

For the first time, a senior military official has said this was what happened in 1996, when tensions were high between Beijing and Taipei over former Taiwanese president Lee Teng-hui's proposal that relations be conducted on a 'state-to-state' basis, which Beijing took as a move towards full independence.

The PLA subsequently carried out a large military exercise and fired three missiles into the East China Sea only 18.5 kilometres from Taiwan's Keelung military base as a warning.

'The first shot hit the target accurately. But just as everyone was applauding the success, we lost track of the second and the third,' the senior military official said.