Why the Chinese base of Neuquén should worry us

Many Argentine citizens have asked whether a Chinese satellite tracking base in Patagonia, free from the control of the Argentine state, would violate national sovereignty. According to the information available and using common sense, the answer seems to be affirmative.

Moving on to the story, the conversations between the Chinese National Agency CLTC and the National Commission for Space Activities for Argentina (CONAE) began in 2010 and the project was approved in 2014 by a congress national majority Kirchner. Thus, the Asian power obtained 200 years of the city of Bajada del Agrio, in Neuquén, for the installation of the said distant Space Station.

Construction work began during the Kirchner period and ended in October 2017. The purpose of the installation was related to the national moon exploration program in China.

The negotiations of the initial agreement that culminated in 2012 unfolded in a striking secrecy that has long worried those warned of the consequences of the case. And it is not for less, since in this bilateral agreement, no minimum restriction had been imposed on the uses of the base and the possibility of secret clauses was planned.

Such an attitude of Kirchnerism in a sensitive issue, after the inconceivable pact with Iran's investigation of the attack against AMIA, has been interpreted as a challenge launched in the United States and a clear alignment from the previous government on the obvious intentions of Beijing's penetration into the country. South America The urgent need for resources in a shrinking economy, the representation of China as a resource provider, coupled with the anti-American ideological affinity typical of Latin American philo-Cuban populisms , have also had adverse consequences.

It is not new that China intends to expand its interaction with the different countries in the region. Thus, he became a financial supporter for Venezuela during the time of Chavismo and until today, in which Nicolás Maduro maintains a debt of 20 billion dollars from the Asian power. It is also the main recipient of Brazilian exports, including soybeans. In Argentina, China's intentions have included nuclear and hydroelectric energy projects and, more recently, various bilateral agreements between Mauricio Macri and Xi Jinping at the last G20 summit in Buenos Aires.

The Mauricio Macri government has examined the project and ratified it, introducing more restrictive conditions regarding the use of the facilities. At this height, the station was under construction.

Today, with the base in operation, questions regarding the final purpose of the installation persist. Likewise, a series of objections emerges as to the necessity and convenience of granting China a privileged position on our territory with a complete lack of control by the Argentine State, comparable to an badignment of sovereignty.

The activity of the satellite tracking station on the Argentine territory has always been evoked by China as a civil and peaceful nature, badociated with space research. However, several aspects are to be taken into account.

The first point is that the Argentine state does not interfere with the activities of the station. The second is that a facility of this type, by nature, has a dual purpose, that is, it can be used both for the pursuit of satellites for civilian and peaceful use, as well as for military and military uses. espionage, such as interception of sensitive communications from other countries and the sending of encrypted messages.

In this sense, it should be noted that the CLTC, as well as a conglomerate of space agencies, directly depend on the High Command of the People's Army of China, official organ of the Asian Giant Armed Forces. That is to say that we are facing a center absolutely controlled by the Chinese military apparatus.

This situation has obviously not escaped the United States, which, like the European countries, has repeated many times They expressed their deep concern for the very existence of the base.

The actions of the officials involved in these negotiations, which contractually exclude all the power of the Argentine state on our own territory, as well as the lack of transparency of the procedures, generate once again mistrust and discouragement in a society hit by innumerable bad decisions from the government. successive governments.

The most problematic points of the contract are linked to the free transfer for 50 years of the 200 hectares of the national territory; the impossibility for the Argentine government to exercise any kind of control over the peaceful nature of the activities and facilities, as well as the facility that was granted to the Government of China with the exoneration the payment of taxes.

The compensation that Argentina got for all this seems disproportionate. Can the staff of the National Space Agency visit the station with advance notice and get data from the antenna for 1 hour and 40 minutes a day.

Faced with this situation, the questions are obvious: how to guarantee the peaceful uses of this dual-fuel installation? And badociated with the above, how to break the suspicion of a military use that would be resolutely against national interests if the installation is surrounded by so much mystery; if the installation is virtually impenetrable for scientists and the media; if the Chinese Embbady is reluctant to provide quality information on the subject?

The Argentine company has the right to know and officials, the duty to inform and establish mechanisms to exercise our sovereign rights. Congress should monitor what is happening with the station. China should also do its part for more transparency.

Bilateral agreements with foreign countries, even in areas considered strategic and in the actions that flow from them, should be treated with a level of transparency that allows citizens to be certain that current governments are not showing themselves against the nation.

This citizen control exercised by the Congress and a qualified public opinion are commonplace in all the developed countries worthy of the name. We, the Argentines, must not stop aspiring for the same thing for our country.

The author is president of the NPSGlobal Foundation, secretary of the Network of Leaders of Latin America (LALN). On Twitter: @irmaar