China's Space Projects on US Doorstep Have Military Worried
China's space infrastructure in Latin America is the biggest outside of China and raises questions that need answers, the commander of the U.S. Southern Command said in rare public comments this week.
Admiral Alvin Holsey said SouthCom would soon establish its own Space South command.
The scale of China's regional space infrastructure was underlined by a Newsweek investigation into a joint Chinese observatory being built by a Chinese state-owned enterprise in Chile - and which was subsequently placed on hold.
"Space is really huge for me," Holsey told a security conference at Florida International University in Miami.
The United States and China are competing in space on multiple levels with implications for potential future conflicts as they build out communications, surveillance and guidance systems.
The world's biggest rival powers are also both leading projects to get people to the moon as a stepping stone to Mars.
America's project is known as Artemis, and China, with its de facto ally Russia, is offering one called the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). The People's Republic of China (PRC) and Russia plan to build a nuclear power plant on the moon.
SouthCom would establish Space South command "in the next couple of weeks" as part of the newest component of the military, the U.S. Space Force, Holsey said, with United States Space Forces – Southern to be based at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Arizona.
"And the big point there is, there's a lot of PRC China space and labor infrastructure in this region, and our partners want to know more about it, and I want to know more about it as well," Holsey told participants at the 10th Annual Hemispheric Security Conference.
"So right now, there's 10 PRC linked space sites across 5 countries in the region," Holsey said, listing their functions that included space object surveillance and identification, and telemetry, tracking and control sites, both important for military space operations.
"Why is that? That's, this region is second only to mainland China for space and labor infrastructure. So, I have to make sure as a combatant commander, what does that mean in the future?" Holsey said.
He said that China saw "unchecked opportunity" in the region and was making fast progress spreading its influence making it a major challenge to the U.S. including economically.
"China remains a long-term strategic competitor. They're a pacing threat, and they're setting the theater," Holsey said. "I believe Beijing's approach to the region is primarily driven by economics which provide access, influence, and the opportunity to coerce our partner nations into unfavorable terms. In short, I think they see unchecked opportunity."
According to the Newsweek investigation published last December about a joint Chinese observatory being built by a Chinese state-owned enterprise in Chile at Cerro Ventarrones there were at least 16 Chinese space enabling infrastructures in the region, though the number varies according to definitions.
The Chilean government placed the project on hold following the report.
Related Articles
China Makes Overtures to Allies in America's BackyardDonald Trump Takes Well-Deserved Victory Lap on Middle East Tour | OpinionPanama Asks Trump to Clean Up Mess Left From Biden-Era Migration SurgeChina Reveals Details About New Stealth Jet
2025 NEWSWEEK DIGITAL LLC.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Japan's TechMagic to introduce stir-fry robots in US
Japanese company TechMagic is to introduce its stir-fry robots in the US to address staffing shortages and high labour expenses, as reported by Nikkei Asia. The company anticipates Underwriters Laboratories (UL) safety certification for I-Robo2 in June 2025. The machine automates the cooking process, with a tilted, rotating cylindrical pan that automatically adjusts seasonings and heat settings. It has a self-cleaning feature, requiring human staff only for ingredient preparation and insertion. Capable of cooking 30 meals every hour, the robot can handle a range of stir-fried items such as fried noodles, chili shrimp, Chinese fried tomato and egg, pad Thai and fried rice. The high heat induction heating (IH) and rotation control of the spatula and pan movement replicate the culinary skills of experienced chefs. The machine eliminates the need to shake the frying pan, allowing anyone to cook dishes easily. TechMagic plans to lease the robots, which are currently produced in Japan, for $1,440 a month, with an additional installation fee. Its target market includes local US restaurants and Japanese chains. It intends to deploy more than 1,000 units by 2030. In Japan, the Osaka Ohsho chain of Chinese restaurants has incorporated 39 robots across 16 locations countrywide, and the Ippudo ramen chain began to use them machines for fried rice making in February 2025. TechMagic CEO Yuji Shiraki stated: "Labour costs are higher in the US than in Japan, so there's strong interest in cooking robots.' "Japan's TechMagic to introduce stir-fry robots in US" was originally created and published by Verdict Food Service, a GlobalData owned brand. The information on this site has been included in good faith for general informational purposes only. It is not intended to amount to advice on which you should rely, and we give no representation, warranty or guarantee, whether express or implied as to its accuracy or completeness. You must obtain professional or specialist advice before taking, or refraining from, any action on the basis of the content on our site. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Epoch Times
an hour ago
- Epoch Times
CCP Escalates Cyber Fight With Taiwan, Offers Bounty on 20 Taiwanese
The Chinese communist regime on June 5 placed bounties on 20 people it claims were involved in a hacking operation on behalf of Taiwan's military, sparking outrage in Taipei. A district public security bureau in Guangzhou, a southern Chinese city, is offering rewards of 10,000 yuan ($1,392.25) to anyone who provides information or works with the Chinese authorities, leading to their arrest, according to a June 5
an hour ago
Top US universities raced to become global campuses. Under Trump, it's becoming a liability
WASHINGTON -- Three decades ago, foreign students at Harvard University accounted for just 11% of the total student body. Today, they account for 26%. Like other prestigious U.S. universities, Harvard for years has been cashing in on its global cache to recruit the world's best students. Now, the booming international enrollment has left colleges vulnerable to a new line of attack from President Donald Trump. The president has begun to use his control over the nation's borders as leverage in his fight to reshape American higher education. Trump's latest salvo against Harvard uses a broad federal law to bar foreign students from entering the country to attend the campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His order applies only to Harvard, but it poses a threat to other universities his administration has targeted as hotbeds of liberalism in need of reform. It's rattling campuses under federal scrutiny, including Columbia University, where foreign students make up 40% of the campus. As the Trump administration stepped up reviews of new student visas last week, a group of Columbia faculty and alumni raised concerns over Trump's gatekeeping powers. 'Columbia's exposure to this 'stroke of pen' risk is uniquely high,' the Stand Columbia Society wrote in a newsletter. People from other countries made up about 6% of all college students in the U.S. in 2023, but they accounted for 27% of the eight schools in the Ivy League, according to an Associated Press analysis of Education Department data. Columbia's 40% was the largest concentration, followed by Harvard and Cornell at about 25%. Brown University had the smallest share at 20%. Other highly selective private universities have seen similar trends, including at Northeastern University and New York University, which each saw foreign enrollment double between 2013 and 2023. Growth at public universities has been more muted. Even at the 50 most selective public schools, foreign students account for about 11% of the student body. America's universities have been widening their doors to foreign students for decades, but the numbers shot upward starting around 2008, as Chinese students came to U.S. universities in rising numbers. It was part of a 'gold rush' in higher education, said William Brustein, who orchestrated the international expansion of several universities. 'Whether you were private or you were public, you had to be out in front in terms of being able to claim you were the most global university," said Brustein, who led efforts at Ohio State University and West Virginia University. The race was driven in part by economics, he said. Foreign students typically aren't eligible for financial aid, and at some schools they pay two or three times the tuition rate charged to U.S. students. Colleges also were eyeing global rankings that gave schools a boost if they recruited larger numbers of foreign students and scholars, he said. But the expansion wasn't equal across all types of colleges — public universities often face pressure from state lawmakers to limit foreign enrollment and keep more seats open for state residents. Private universities don't face that pressure, and many aggressively recruited foreign students as their numbers of U.S. students stayed flat. The college-going rate among American students has changed little for decades, and some have been turned off on college by the rising costs and student debt loads. Proponents of international exchange say foreign students pour billions of dollars into the U.S. economy, and many go on to support the nation's tech industry and other fields in need of skilled workers. Most international students study the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math. In the Ivy League, most international growth has been at the graduate level, while undergraduate numbers have seen more modest increases. Foreign graduate students make up more than half the students at Harvard's government and design schools, along with five of Columbia's schools. The Ivy League has been able to outpace other schools in large part because of its reputation, Brustein said. He recalls trips to China and India, where he spoke with families that could recite where each Ivy League school sat in world rankings. 'That was the golden calf for these families. They really thought, 'If we could just get into these schools, the rest of our lives would be on easy street,'' he said. Last week, Trump said he thought Harvard should cap its foreign students to about 15%. 'We have people who want to go to Harvard and other schools, they can't get in because we have foreign students there,' Trump said at a news conference. The university called Trump's latest action banning entry into the country to attend Harvard 'yet another illegal retaliatory step taken by the Administration in violation of Harvard's First Amendment rights.' In a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration's previous attempt to block international students at Harvard, the university said its foreign student population was the result of 'a painstaking, decades-long project' to attract the most qualified international students. Losing access to student visas would immediately harm the school's mission and reputation, it said. 'In our interconnected global economy," the school said, 'a university that cannot welcome students from all corners of the world is at a competitive disadvantage.'
