April 1, 2024 (EIRNS)—Just a day before the commander of the Southern Command, Gen. Laura Richardson, is scheduled to arrive in Argentina, U.S. Ambassador Marc Stanley told the daily La Nación in a May 31 interview that he shares Richardson’s concerns about China’s involvement in Argentina. When the interviewer mentioned that Richardson will visit the Patagonian province of Neuquén, where the U.S. has set up an emergency response center, and China has established a deep-space station, Stanley launched into an attack on China.
“I’m surprised that Argentina allows the Chinese armed forces to operate secretly in Neuquén, doing I don’t know what,” he complained. The People’s Liberation Army plays a role in space station operations (along with Argentina’s National Space Activities Commission), but Stanley warned, “I understand that there are some soldiers from the Chinese army who operate the space telescope; I don’t know what they do and I don’t think the Argentines know, and they should understand why the Chinese are deployed there.”
