China’s dichotomous BeiDou strategy: led by the party for national deployment, driven by the market for global reach

China’s foremost national goal is to become a major space power by 2030. Consequently, President Xi Jinping has made the launch of the BeiDou navigation satellite system (BDS) and promotion of a “BDS global network” a national priority. BDS represents a frontier technology of the “fourth industrial revolution” which ushered in the digital age. Using BeiDou as a case study, this paper attempts to analyze the structural features of China’s frontier technology strategy and its impact on China’s global influence. Significantly, BDS has both military and civilian applications, which is a prominent feature of today’s cutting edge technologies. Therefore, a focus on BDS will deepen our understanding of how China is exploring these new types of dual-purpose technologies to expand its global reach. The paper argues that by dramatically restructuring its decision-making process under Xi Jinping, China has been able to adopt a state-led national strategy for using BeiDou domestically, while expanding its global reach through a market-driven approach. This strategy has facilitated the penetration of Chinese BDS applications into the economies and societies of many developing (and some developed) countries.