Open attitude to overseas investors to lift satellite sector

A document encouraging overseas investors in China’s aerospace industry has been issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and Ministry of Commerce with a call for public suggestions.

Aerospace experts said China’s open attitude to overseas capital in the aerospace industry will benefit domestic satellite companies while intensifying industry competition.

The announcement encourages foreign investors to look at the space industry, which covers such sectors as new materials for aerospace projects, commercial satellite design and manufacturing, and satellite communication system equipment manufacturing in China.

Huang Zhicheng, a professor at the Beijing Institute of System Engineering, said that as foreign capital pours into China’s satellite industry, competition will become intense and profits of domestic satellite companies may be affected.

Huang noted that the country had welcomed foreign investment in commercial satellite manufacturing since 1995 and helped Brazil and Venezuela develop satellites.

Beijing-based microsatellite company Spacety bought satellite components from Danish space company GomSpace in 2016 and takes international cooperation seriously, according to Yang Feng, CEO of Spacety. “I think it is a good thing if foreign capital can enter China’s space market, because aerospace is a global business and international cooperation should be enhanced,” Yang told the Global Times on Wednesday.