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The program is a
priority as President Xi Jinping has urged China to establish
itself as a space power, and apart from its civilian ambitions,
it has tested anti-satellite missiles.
The Quantum Experiments at Space Scale, or QUESS, satellite, was
launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the remote
northwestern province of Gansu in the early hours of Tuesday,
the official Xinhua news agency said.
"In its two-year mission, QUESS is designed to establish
'hack-proof' quantum communications by transmitting uncrackable
keys from space to the ground," it said.
"Quantum communication boasts ultra-high security as a quantum
photon can neither be separated nor duplicated," it added. "It
is hence impossible to wiretap, intercept or crack the
information transmitted through it."
The satellite will enable secure communications between Beijing
and Urumqi, Xinhua said, referring to the capital of China's
violence-prone far western region of Xinjiang, where the
government says it is battling an Islamist insurgency.
"The newly-launched satellite marks a transition in China's role
- from a follower in classic information technology development
to one of the leaders guiding future achievements," Pan Jianwei,
the project's chief scientist, told the agency.
Quantum communications holds "enormous prospects" in the field
of defense, it added.
China insists its space program is for peaceful purposes, but
the U.S. Defense Department has highlighted its increasing space
capabilities, saying it was pursuing activities aimed to prevent
adversaries from using space-based assets in a crisis.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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