China to launch hack-proof quantum communication network in 2016

China will complete and put into service the world's longest quantum communication network stretching 2,000km from Beijing to Shanghai by 2016, say scientists leading the project.

The quantum network is considered "unhackable" and will provide the most secure encryption technology to users.

By 2030, the Chinese network would be extended worldwide, Xinhua reported.

China is the first major power to come up with a detailed schedule to put the technology into extensive, large-scale use. The South China Morning Post earlier reported that Beijing would launch the world's first quantum communication satellite in 2016.

Xinhua said the network would be used by the central government, military and critical business institutions like banks.

The ambitious targets were revealed by Professor Pan Jianwei, a quantum physicist with the University of Science and Technology of China and a lead scientist of the national quantum communication project, during an international conference on quantum communication in Hebei yesterday, Xinhua reported.

"China's quantum information science and technology is developing very fast and China leads in some areas in this field," he was quoted as saying. "Any city in China, as long they want to, can start to build the quantum communication network now."