Center for Strategic and International Studies report warns that the Chinese are accessing classified information through space facilities in Argentina, Chile and other countries in South America
A large structure of new technological space antennas, located in strategic locations in several Latin American countries, allows the Beijing government to access classified information. This is the summary of the latest report issued by the Research Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) based in Washington, United States.
Chinese system tools in South America use three frequencies to collect data. One of them, which corresponds to higher frequencies, can be used for communication between military satellites and aircraft: “Although military communications are encrypted, other types of data transmissions can be intercepted.”
According to the study, to reveal this possibility, which poses a significant threat to the security of the region, the influence of the PLA on the space ecosystem: “The support force of the Chinese army, which is responsible for space warfare, cyber and electronics, participates in practically all Chinese space activities.”
As we read on the Argentine website InfobaeAmong the installations targeted is the Spazio Lontano land base in Neuquén, Argentina. China has about 202 hectares of land in Argentina to build space facilities. There is also a project to develop a terminal in Rio Gallegos, southern Argentina, in cooperation with the local company Ascentio.
About 600 kilometers away is another station, Estación Satélite de Santiago, in the valley of the Andes mountain range in Chile, operated by the Swedish Space Corporation that also works with NASA and the European Space Agency. The Chinese used this structure before selling to Sweden.
The Swedish Defense Research Agency has criticized China’s activities in those facilities it is now using. Antennas that could violate the terms of use for collecting and monitoring military intelligence have been discovered.
“These installations are part of a global network of ground stations that maintain communications with satellites as they pass through different geographic regions – the report continues -. The proximity to the United States has heightened concerns that they could be used to spy on active Americans and intercept classified information.”
The Chinese installation is located in Argentina under the General Satellite Tracking and Launch Control Administration, an organization of the People’s Liberation Army Strategic Support Force. For this reason, suspicions grew that the facility was being directly used by the Beijing military for its own benefit.
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