RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Beyond the ambitious investment plans promised by Xi Jinping to Alberto Fernández for the near future, the comprehensive strategic alliance sealed between Argentina and China is rapidly progressing in very sensitive areas for world geopolitics, through four projects that will have an impact on Argentina’s economy and diplomacy.
Some of these projects are already advanced and others are in Xi Jinping’s administration’s immediate plans, such as the Neuquen space base managed by the People’s Army of China, the construction of a lunar observatory in San Juan, the development of a logistics pole in Tierra del Fuego and the eventual dredging works in the 1,300-kilometer waterway that transports 80% of Argentina’s grain exports.
In parallel, the delivery of vaccines and the plans to speed up an investment plan for US$30 billion, the Chinese government is focusing on these projects of geopolitical sensitivity for Argentina since in all cases they have the same underlying logic: the control of air and water space or strategic installations in territorial areas monitored by Beijing.
These are not distant future initiatives such as the construction of a nuclear power plant or the installation of 5G technology in the country. These projects are causing some concern among foreign diplomats as they see Beijing strongly advancing in Argentina in sensitive areas at a time when the government is negotiating a debt agreement with the IMF where the US and several European Union countries have a strong political weight.
As summarized by El Cronista based on diplomatic sources and Casa Rosada officials, the advances in China’s comprehensive strategic relationship with Argentina are part of the ambitious New Silk Road project. This is what Alberto Fernández and Xi Jinping talked about in their last telephone exchange. And in Argentina this plan is materializing in the following sensitive projects:
LOGISTICS HUB
The governor of Tierra del Fuego, Gustavo Melella, is promoting plans to build an operations hub in Ushuaia linked to the potential of natural resources for the transfer of goods and the exploitation of overseas resources. It is a project that would demand an initial investment of US$50 million and in which China has already pledged its support.
“The plan is to set up a logistics hub here to supply services, food, transfer of scientific personnel and other items to all the Antarctic bases near Marambio,” Governor Melella explained to El Cronista.
This project, which would be included in a Navy base in Tierra del Fuego, has already had an offer from China for its immediate development.
In his recent visit to Argentina, the Chinese Minister of Defense, General Wei Fenghe, highlighted the interest of Chinese state-owned companies in taking part in tenders to build an Antarctic Logistics Pole in Ushuaia. The project was presented two months ago by Melella and his technical team to Ambassador Zou Xiaoli at the Chinese Embassy in Buenos Aires.
Currently, the Army Hercules planes supplying the Argentine bases in Antarctica come from Buenos Aires, stop over in Rio Gallegos or Ushuaia and from there fly to Antarctica. This logistics hub would reduce these trips, cut costs and supply goods or scientific support to other Antarctic bases of countries operating on the white continent.
Meetings will be held in coming days between the government of Tierra del Fuego and the Ministry of Defense, which are responsible for the land where the project would be developed.
“We can’t waste any more time while Chile advances in Punta Arenas and the UK in the Falklands. Ushuaia has a strategic geopolitical location, unique in the region,” said people close to Melella.
The installation of this hub with Chinese capital will be key for Beijing in its geopolitical positioning before the global debate on the exploitation of resources in Antarctica. It is also known that a Chinese logistic base in Tierra del Fuego could be the starting point for Beijing to advance with other projects in the region.
THE BASE IN NEUQUÉN
For over five years China has been operating in the space base of Bajada del Agrio in Neuquén under the protection of a law promulgated by former President Cristina Kirchner and where the CLTC agency, dependent on the Chinese People’s Army, is free to explore the space for 50 years with full tax exemption on the 200 hectares where the station is located.
The National Commission of Space Activities (CONAE) only operates for one hour and forty minutes a day but has no involvement in the projects being undertaken by Chinese scientists in Neuquén.
According to information recently provided to El Cronista by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the last thing known about this space base is that there is a call to the scientific community to propose projects based on the 35-meter antenna installed by China in Bajada del Agrio.
“In order to make effective use of the available time (of the antenna) for technological scientific purposes, CONAE is offering members of the national and international expert community the opportunity to present cooperative projects,” said the ministry headed by Roberto Salvarezza.
At the same time, it was reported that Argentina has been cooperating since April last year in the Chang-E 4 project which explored the far side of the moon, and CONAE authorities were visited by the Chinese delegation headed by the Senior Advisor of the CLTC agency, Huang Quisheng, who is leading the technicians’ work in Neuquén.
But not much more is known about this and what is going on inside the Neuquén base’s 200 hectares would seem to be more of a Chinese state secret than a program fully managed by Argentina. Of course, the issue raises questions and some discomfort in US and EU diplomacy, where they suspect that China’s antenna in Neuquén, which is protected under “peaceful use”, could be used to intercept satellites and use sensitive data.
THE SAN JUAN TELESCOPE
Although the academic world does not object to the installation of the Chinese Argentina Radio Telescope (CART) in San Juan, the truth is that this Chinese-funded project is also part of the development of Beijing’s work in Argentina’s sensitive areas.
According to information provided to El Cronista by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the concrete base and all the access roads where the CART telescope will be placed have already been completed in San Juan.
“We are working on the provision of running water, electricity and Internet and waiting for the pandemic restrictions to allow the Chinese technicians to travel, who will assemble the telescope’s parabolic antenna structure, 40 meters in diameter above the reinforced concrete base,” said Salvarezza’s spokespersons.
Chinese Ambassador Zou Xiaoli has been actively involved in this project since the recent arrival in Argentina of templates that were taken to the Carlos Ulrico Cesco High Altitude Station, in the Calingasta Department of San Juan. This will enable the last construction stage of the Argentine-Chinese Radio Telescope base to be completed.
CART Project coordinator Marcelo Segura explained that “these plates are necessary because in this final stage Chinese technicians should travel to supervise how the embedded parts have been inserted. Once China confirms all measurements, the final concrete pouring will be conducted and then the work will be completed. From then on, the arrival of all the parts that make up the radio telescope, the antenna and the assembly stage would begin.”
According to the Governor of San Juan, Sergio Uñac, there is nothing secret or sensitive about this project. “This is going to have significant benefits. This project is going to help university institutions in both countries and future generations,” he said. He also stressed that the radio telescope will provide a privileged environment for the training of Argentine and foreign professionals, using state-of-the-art technology tools.
CART will be located about 250 km from the city of San Juan at the space station inaugurated in 1964. The main instrument of the Cesco Station is the Double Astrographic Telescope, the only instrument of its kind in the southern hemisphere, with which -among other important works- photographs of Halley’s comet were taken during its passage in 1986. The government assures that this project, financed by China, has no military purposes and that it is only one more contribution to the scientific community. However, it is undoubtedly another Chinese venture in a sensitive area such as space observation financed by Beijing.
THE PARANÁ-PARAGUAY WATERWAY
The Ministry of Transports will launch an international tender on April 30th for the execution of massive dredging works in the 1,300 kilometers waterway where 80% of Argentina’s grain exports are transported.
China’s Shanghai Dredging Company (SDC), a subsidiary of the giant state-owned China Communications Construction Company, is one of the parties interested in getting a foothold in the Paraná River as concessionaire of the new waterway. This is a project that the national government intends to manage from 2022 through a state-owned company.
The Asian giant will bid for the dredging, marking and maintenance services of the Paraná-Paraguay waterway.
People close to the Minister of Transports Mario Meoni told El Cronista that “no one will be benefited. A transparent international tender will be organized with agencies and universities.”
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transports clarified that “no one is going to dictate any company. Calling for tenders is a decision of the President and the Minister.”
A few days ago, Meoni pointed out that “it is up to us to prepare the terms and conditions for a new tender which will be called within thirty days, without an extension of the current concession being foreseen.” Some interpreted this as a message to the current licensee, Jan de Nul, and a coded signal to the Chinese state-owned company. But the Casa Rosada denies that there will be any preferences.
In any case, the eventual entry of the Chinese in the waterway’s dredging works is a source of concern for entrepreneurs and diplomats, since the Shanghai Dredging Company (SDC) would be linked to the military power of the Beijing Communist Party.
In August last year, Mike Pompeo, then Donald Trump’s Secretary of State, openly accused the Chinese construction company and its subsidiaries of “engaging in corruption, predatory financing, environmental destruction and other abuses around the world.”
The leader of the Civic Coalition, Lilita Carrió, contributed to further suspicions about SDC by stating that in the United States they see the conflict with China as a “world war”. And she underlined: “With the waterway in the hands of the Chinese, sovereignty is surrendered.”
Consequently, the waterway project, as well as the other plans located in Argentina’s sensitive areas, do nothing but spark controversy and arouse suspicions due to the levels of geopolitical interests at stake.