That what was said to the populace. In reality, first gen beidou sats already had functionality to provide atomic clock signal and advanced station keeping. The accuracy was quite lower than from leo GPS sats, but still.

The explanation that beidou 1 was a glorified, super expensive satellite pager, with navigation functionality as an afterthought does not hold water. This "explanation" came much later than the commencement of beidou 1 project.

Looks like some misunderstanding here. No one ever claimed Beidou I was developed as a satellite pager.

The reason Beidou I needs two way transmission is they wanted add pager functionality to its navigation functionality. The party wants more control has nothing to do with Beidou I's two way transmission mechanism. When Beidou I was developed, it's mostly used by military. The party doesn't need "more control" there.

Military use??? You understand what two way transmission means during a conflict? An enemy tunes an antiradiation missile on your frequency, and voila...

China already had military digital satellite coms working by late nineties. For them, it was of even lesser utility.

Perhaps some background info can help. Beidou I was developed in early 2000s. And at that time Chinese military satellite wasn’t advanced at all. Even though beidou I is vulnerable to anti radiation missles, it’s the best they have and at least it worked well for purposes such as border patrol and terrain survey.

My point is that many things in China may be explained by the party wanting more control, but two way transmission of beidou I is not one of them.