China launches Shenzhou X. (Photo : Getty Images)
China is building a space monitoring base in Argentina, raising concern among critics because of the intense mystery surrounding the project.
On Tuesday, The Diplomat reported how the Chinese army's space station in Patagonia is nearing completion, leaving critics to say that Argentina "has been turned over" the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The Space Monitoring Base
According to the report, the space tracking, telemetry and command facility, which would be under the PLA, is the first of its kind outside of China.
The base would include steerable computer and engineering facilities, quarters for the technical staff, parabolic antennas that are 13.5 meters and 35 meters in diameter, and $10 million worth of electric power plant.
According to Breitbart, the Latin American and Asian nations initially wanted the establishment of the space station to be part of a program dedicated for "moon exploration and other space activities."
However, Argentina's former representative to the Arms Trade Treaty said that the space station would have "the capacity to interfere with communications, electronic networks, electromagnetic systems" and receive information "about the launching of missiles and other space activities, including of drones, and movement of strategic arms."
It is also expected to be capable of gathering "information of enormous sensitivity in the eventuality of a military competition," the Diplomat cited.
The Controversy
Since the creation of the base involved a certain level of secrecy, critics noticed that there may be something fishy going on.
Because of this, Argentina's President Maurico Macri promised to make a certain amount of confidential information to be available to the public.
However, China remained quiet about the project, which can be a source of doubt for critics since the Asian giant has so much to gain from it.
"The station will be located in the Patagonia region of Argentina, which provides flat expanses that are suitable for space exploration work," the Breitbart report stated. "The location also provides China the ability to conduct research from the Southern Hemisphere."
Aside from that, there are also concerns that China would use the base in military activities, something authorities tried to ease by declaring that the facility would solely be used by civilians.
"We're also planning to have spacecraft circumvent the moon, land and return to Earth," China's Yu Xueming told Merco Press. "This is clearly civilian, with no possible military use. The antenna only rotates at a very low speed to cover great distances and in no way can be used for military actions."
