March 2 (UPI) -- The U.S. House Select Committee on China warned that Beijing has established at least 11 space facilities in Latin America that could strengthen the surveillance and intelligence capabilities of the People's Liberation Army.
According to the Feb. 26 report, Pulling Latin America into China's Orbit, the second installment of a review of China's activity in the Western Hemisphere, it details how Beijing uses infrastructure in the region to advance its space and intelligence-gathering capabilities.
The document says that China uses space cooperation agreements with countries in the region, presented as scientific in nature, but which allow it to expand its ability to monitor and track satellites and other objects in space, a key function for both civilian and military operations.
According to the committee, the facilities include ground stations, radio telescopes and satellite laser ranging sites located in Argentina, Venezuela, Bolivia, Chile and Brazil.
New @ChinaSelect report | China is using Latin America as a launchpad for military space operations. What looks like civilian cooperation is actually part of a PLA-linked global network tracking satellites and monitoring adversaries.
