New Select Committee Investigation Uncovers China’s Space Operations in Latin America

Today, the Select Committee on China released a new investigation uncovering how China is using infrastructure in Latin America to advance its space capabilities and intelligence collection. The investigation, Pulling Latin America into China's Orbit, comes as the second installment of the Select Committee's investigations into China’s activity in the Western Hemisphere.

“So much of daily American life depends on satellites in the skies above us, and that’s why China's space operations are of serious concern. China is only investing in space operations in Latin American to advance its agenda and undermine America in space,” said Select Committee Chairman John Moolenaar. “President Trump has acted decisively on confronting China’s malign influence in the Western Hemisphere, and our allies should act promptly on the recommendations in this report and stop the expansion of China’s space infrastructure."

The Select Committee’s investigation uncovered that China has developed an extensive network of dual-use space ground stations and telescopes across Latin America and uses this network to collect intelligence and boost the PLA's warfighting capacity. The investigation found at least eleven China-linked space facilities established across Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile, and Brazil.

The investigation also made several critical policy recommendations, including:

• NASA should review cooperation with host countries to ensure there are and have been no violations of the Wolf Amendment’s prohibition on bilateral cooperation with China and Chinese-owned companies.
• Congress should consider updating the Wolf Amendment to close a growing loophole that allows prohibited bilateral cooperation with the PRC to continue under the guise of nominally multilateral arrangements.
• U.S. agencies should re-evaluate space, defense, and advanced technology cooperation with countries that host PRC-linked space infrastructure, with a focus on mitigating risks to U.S. systems, data, and personnel.
• The U.S. Government should establish the explicit goal of halting the expansion of PRC space infrastructure in Latin America, and ultimately seek to roll back and eliminate PRC space capabilities in the Western Hemisphere that threaten U.S. interests.

Read the full report here.