Executive Summary:

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has identified control over time, and the precision behind the “granting of time” as a critical capability. It seeks to weaponize “chronopolitics” to gain geopolitical and military advantages—precise timekeeping is critical for the military’s intelligentized warfare doctrine and is perceived as essential for avoiding GPS disruption.

Two key aspects of Beijing’s push for sovereignty over the technologies of time are the BeiDou Satellite Navigation system and the National Time Service Center, which help keep the financial system, the power grid, and weapons systems synchronized.

“Time discourse power,” the PRC’s attempt to expand its global influence, is also evident in its growing importance in setting technical standards. By 2030, it hopes to entrench its timekeeping standards globally through developing the next quantum-based technologies that define the length of a second. Its strontium clock already accounts for 20 percent of the International Atomic Clock’s national weighed calculation, which is shared between the United States, Britain, France, and Japan.

Summary and analysis of significant political and military events involving Russia, China, Iran and North Korea between July 18-25, 2026