They warn that the mysterious Chinese base of Neuquén is a "black box" without control

Four years later, when the debate began at the National Congress, the Chinese space station at Neuquen remains wrapped in a veil of mystery and secrecy. From the beginning, people who resisted the project warned of potential vulnerabilities that this implied for national defense the opaque agreement signed between the Asian giant and the government of Cristina Kirchner.

The pbadage of time has not done away with suspicions. According to a comprehensive journalistic report from the agency Reuters, the scientific base located 40 minutes from Las Lajas car – a small town of 7,000 inhabitants – a "black box" that lacks supervision from the Argentine state.

The diagnosis is based on hundreds of documentary pages provided by the national government and reviewed by experts in international law.

One of the key sites of the Chinese station is its visitor center. During the screening, his goal was to explain the function of his powerful 16-story antenna. The center is now built behind a 2.5 meter high barbed wire fence that surrounds the entire space station complex. Visits are by appointment only.

Immersed in a halo of mystery, the complex arouses the anxiety of local residents, fueling conspiracy theories and he caused the concern of Donald Trump's government about his true end. Witness dozens of neighbors, former and former Argentine officials, US officials, satellite and astronomy specialists and lawyers consulted by Reuters.

The stated purpose of the station it is peaceful space exploration and observation. In China, it is said that this played a key role last January, when pioneering the landing of a spacecraft of this country on the dark side of the moon.

However, according to the former Foreign Minister of President Mauricio Macri, Susana Malcorra, the Argentine state does not supervise the operations of the station.

In 2016, Malcorra revised the agreement of the Chinese space station to include a stipulation that it would only be for civilian use. This agreement obliges the Asian country to report its activities to the station, but does not provide for any compliance mechanism so the authorities guarantee that it is not used for military purposessaid experts in international law.

"No matter what is written in the contract or in the agreementsaid Juan Uriburu, an Argentine lawyer who has worked in two large joint ventures in Argentina and China. How do you make sure they comply with the rules? "

"I would say that, since one of the actors involved in the agreements reports directly to the Chinese army, it is at least intriguing to see that the Argentine government has not addressed this issue with more precision"he said.

China's space program is run by its army, the People's Liberation Army (EPL). The Patagonian station is managed by the China Monitoring and Launch Satellite General Monitoring Center (CLTC), which informs the PLA's strategic support force.

Beijing insists that its space program has peaceful aims and its Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the Argentine station was reserved for civilian use. He said that the station was open to the public and the media. "Suspicions of some people have hidden motives," they told Chinese diplomacy.

Consulted on how it ensures that the station is not used for military purposes, the National Commission for Space Activities (CONAE) warned that the agreement reached between the two countries He expressed his attachment to the "peaceful use" of the project.

This space agency also said that station radio broadcasts were also monitored, but radio astronomy experts said the Chinese could easily hide the illegal data in these transmissions or add encrypted channels at frequencies agreed with Argentina.

The Argentine agency pointed out that he had no permanent staff at the station, but they made "periodic" trips there. He did not specify how often.

Concerns about espionage

"The Patagonia land station, secretly agreed upon by a corrupt and financially vulnerable government ten years ago, is another example of opaque Chinese chords and predators that undermine the sovereignty of host countriessaid Garrett Marquis, spokesperson for the National Security Council of the White House.

Some radio astronomy experts have argued that US concerns regarding espionage they were exaggerated and that the station was probably what was announced, a scientific society with Argentina, even though the station's 35 meter diameter disc could spy on foreign satellites.

Tony Beasley, director of the National Observatory of Radioastronomy of the United States, said that the station could, in theory, "listen to "the satellites from other governments and who could collect confidential data. But this kind of listening could be done with a much less sophisticated material.

"Everyone can do that. Basically, I can do it with a plate in my yardBeasley said, "I do not know if there is anything particularly sinister or disturbing about part of the Chinese radio network in Argentina. "

Argentine officials have defended the Chinese station with the argument that the agreement with China It's no different than the one signed with the European Space Agency (ESA), who built a station in a neighboring province. Both have free leases for 50 years. Argentine scientists have access to 10% of the antenna time of the two stations, in accordance with the signed commitment.

The legal experts who reviewed the documents stated that there was a noticeable difference: ESA is a civil agency, while the CLTC reports to Chinese military commanders.

"All ESA governments play according to democratic rules"Uriburu said:" The party is not the state. But this is not the case in China. The party is the state. "

In the United States, NASA, like ESA, is a civilian agency, while the US military has its own space command for military or national security missions. In some cases, NASA and the military have collaborated, said Jonathan McDowell, astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

"The line is sometimes blurry"He said." But that's the exception. "

Chinese staff and extreme reserve

In Las Lajas do not disappear confusion and suspicion. "These people do not allow access, they do not allow you to see"Alfredo Garrido, a 51-year-old trader My opinion is that this is not a scientific research base, but a Chinese military base," he added.

Among the craziest conspiracy theories that reporters heard during a two-day trip to the city, one can cite one: the base was used to build an atomic bomb.

The road between Las Lajas and the space station is arid and dusty. There is no sign that indicates the existence of the station. The wide antenna is suddenly visible after a bend in the gravel road of the main road. The huge disk is the only sign of human life for miles around.

The station went into service last April. Thirty Chinese employees work and live instead, who does not employ locals, according to the mayor of Las Lajas, María Espinosa, who added that the station had been beneficial to the local economy.

Espinosa said that she had rented her home to Chinese space station workers before they moved to the base, and that she herself I had visited the site eight times.

Other residents of Las Lajas pointed out that they rarely see any of the train station in townexcept when staff visit your Chinese supermarket from time to time.

Reuters asked to access the station through CONAE, the provincial government and the Chinese Embbady. CONAE says it can not approve a Reuters visit in the short term, but I was planning one for the media.

The agency added that students from neighboring cities had already visited the site.

The revision of the Macri Mandated Agreement

When the Congress debated the space station in 2015, under the chairmanship of Cristina Kirchner, the opposition legislators questioned why it was not stipulated that it was only for civilian use. However, Congress has approved the agreement.

When Macri took office in 2015, he ordered the revision of a series of agreements that the former president and senator had signed with China. According to Malcorra, he was concerned that the agreement on the space station did not explicitly stipulate that it should only be for civilian use. The former manager said that she was limited in her ability to revise the agreement because it had already been signed by the previous government.

The Chinese finally agreed to include the required addendum. "This is something I asked to do so that there is no doubt or agenda hidden, and that our people know that we had done so," said Marlcorra from his home in Spain.

But the commitment was below a key point: the supervision. "We could not do it after the level of recognition that this agreement had on our part. This has been acknowledged, accepted and approved by the Congress"said Malcorra.

"I would have written the agreement in another way," he added. "It would have clauses that articulate access to supervision." Malcorra said confidently that Argentina could ask China for "guarantees" if in doubt about the activities of the station. When asked how Argentina would be aware of these activities, he said, "Some people will tell us, do not worry."

The opacity of the operations of the station and the reluctance of Argentine officials to talk about it it is difficult to determine exactly who visited the complex.

A provincial government official provided a list of local journalists who visited the facilities. According to a review of their social media stories and publications, a number of them seemed to have come to the station only one day, in February 2017, 14 months before. its commissioning.

Some neighbors in the area were there. For example, the resident Matías Uran, 24, says her sister I was among a group of students who visited him last year. They saw a dining room and a game room.

The most striking case may be that of Alberto Hugo Amarilla, 60, who runs a small hotel in Las Lajas. L & # 39; man He remembered a dinner he had attended shortly after the start of work on the site.. There, he said, a Chinese official who was in the city to visit the site received him enthusiastically. His dinner companions told him that this man had learned that Amarilla was a retired army officer.

The enthusiastic official, he said, was a Chinese general.

* The Reuters report was prepared by Dave Sherwood in Santiago, Matt Spetalnick, Mark Hosenball and Phil Stewart in Washington, Joey Roulette in Orlando and Michael Martina in Beijing. It was published in Spanish by Nicolás Misculin.