Washington, DC - The United States and China have negotiated compatible signal characteristics that will both protect and enhance service for users of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) and the equivalent Chinese system. The achievement resulted from several years of discussions between U.S. and Chinese experts in global navigation satellite systems (GNSS).

The consensus to make the systems compatible and interoperable at the user level will mean better service for users of both systems worldwide.

The Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs Office of Space and Advanced Technology represents the United States in the ongoing U.S.-China GNSS Cooperation Dialogue, which began in May 2014 and covers various topics. Compatibility of the Chinese BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) with GPS has been a core focus of the discussions.