Beijing lashes out at US as tensions escalate over a space observatory in Chile

The La Silla Observatory is located on the outskirts of the Chilean Atacama Desert

China struck a defiant stance this week in response to American concerns about Beijing’s efforts to expand its influence in the resource-rich South American nation of Chile, escalating tensions over a Chinese astronomical venture in Chile’s arid north.

At a press conference yesterday [Macau time] in Chile’s capital of Santiago, China’s ambassador to Chile, Niu Qingbao, lambasted the United States for “interfering in Chile’s sovereign right to independently choose its partners” and spreading “disinformation about the project.”

The astronomy project stems from a 2023 agreement between China’s state-run National Astronomical Observatory and Chile’s Catholic University of the North to work on a powerful space observatory in the country’s vast northern Atacama Desert. The proposed high-resolution telescope would be able to observe near-Earth objects, which are classified as asteroids or comets.

But the project quickly became entangled in China’s spiraling rivalry with the Trump administration.

Worries in Washington have mounted over China’s clout on America’s doorstep, as Beijing builds infrastructure, boosts investment in agriculture, energy, mining and other sectors across Latin America and displaces the U.S. as the region’s biggest trading partner.

During his Senate confirmation hearing earlier this month, Brandon Judd, Trump’s nominee for U.S. ambassador to Chile, raised alarm about China’s growing footprint in one of Latin America’s most prosperous and stable countries. As ambassador, he said he would seek to persuade Chile that “we are the better trade partner.”

“We are the better partner in everything, whether it’s Antarctica, fisheries, marine conservation — in all of the areas that are very important to Chile,” Judd told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “We will continue to strengthen our ties to Chile and limit China’s access to all of the resources that Chile might have available.”

In grilling Judd, Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire described China’s planned telescope in Chile — as well as its space mission control station already operating in neighboring Argentina — as markers for Beijing’s global power ambitions.

“China is increasing its influence throughout Latin America, throughout Africa, throughout the world, at a time when the United States is pulling back,” Shaheen said. “That is not in our security interest.”

As U.S. concern grew, the Chilean government announced it was suspending the project for review. “Its scope remains to be clarified,” the Chilean Foreign Ministry said.

Although China denies that the project has any military purpose, American officials have raised fears about the potential of such space observatories to increase China’s intelligence-gathering capabilities.

Ambassador Niu dismissed those fears yesterday, saying, “China has no interest in geopolitics.” He accused the U.S. of provoking tensions by “defaming Chinese projects by invoking geopolitical arguments.”

He claimed the proposed observatory was “of the same nature” as the many other telescopes in northern Chile, including an American-funded telescope known as the Rubin Observatory coming into operation later this year.

“We are closely monitoring the developments of the incident and hope that the Chilean side can eliminate U.S. interference and approve the implementation of the project as soon as possible,” Niu said.

The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ambassador’s remarks.

Chile’s government spokesperson, Aisén Etcheverry, said authorities were talking with both the private Catholic university in the country’s north and the Chinese National Astronomical Observatory “to understand whether this astronomical project falls within Chile’s institutional framework.”

The U.S., the European Union, Australia and a range of other countries operate observatories in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The region’s geography — bone-dry and high-altitude, with steady air and the cloud-blocking Andes Mountains to the east — produces exceptionally clear conditions that have made it a major hub for global astronomy. NAYARA BATSCHKE, SANTIAGO, MDT/AP