New Euro/Chinese GPS

EU governments approve cooperation with China on rival to
U.S.-run GPS system
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) _ European Union ministers Monday
approved letting China take part in the development of a
rival to the U.S.-run satellite-based navigation system
known as GPS.
Having secured backing from the 15 EU governments, EU and
Chinese officials will sign the cooperation agreement
Thursday during a meeting in Beijing. The agreement also
allows China to take a financial stakeholding of ¤200
million (US$236 million) in the program.
The EU hopes to have the 3.6 billion euro (US$4.2 billion)
project, dubbed Galileo, operational in 2008 to compete
with GPS.