Thread by @CassLGarrison

My investigation into China's deep space ground station in Argentina is live on @Reuters today. This thread will hit the highlights. Please check out the link for the full story: reut.rs/2DLJYoD

In a remote stretch of Argentina's arid Patagonian region, there is no sign of human life for miles around. Then suddenly, this sprawling 35-meter-wide parabolic antenna is visible.

This is China's deep space station in Neuquen province. It went operational in April. China and Argentina say it plays a key role in China's mission to the dark side of the moon.

But in Argentina - and abroad - this station is the subject of concern for those who are doubtful about its true purpose. We spent 3 months investigating. I spoke to intelligence/space experts, international lawyers, current/former gov officials. This is what we learned.

A review of hundreds of pages of government documents - by @reuters and international lawyers - showed that China gets use of this 200-hectare piece of land for 50 years, rent free. Argentina's space agency, CONAE, gets 10% antenna time for its own research.

In many ways, the agreement is similar to the one Argentina has with the @esa for its space station in Mendoza - except for one glaring difference: the @esa is a civilian agency.

The China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General (CLTC), named in the agreements, is part of China's People's Liberation Army. China's space program is run by its military. But Beijing insists its space program is for peaceful purposes.

China's foreign ministry in a statement to @Reuters stressed the Argentine station is for civilian use only. ”The suspicions of some individuals have ulterior motives,” the ministry said.

Many ask how this is different from what the U.S. does with its space stations around the world? NASA, which does not operate a deep space station in Argentina, is a civilian agency. The U.S. military has it own space command for military or national security missions.

In some instances, NASA and the military have collaborated, but experts we spoke to called that "very much the exception."

Despite the fact that the CLTC is part of China's military, the original agreement didn't explicitly state that China would only use the station for civilian purposes. This was a huge point of contention with opposition lawmakers - but Congress approved it in 2015.

By then, construction was well under way, @DigitalGlobe satellite images show. Earlier agreements with Neuquen province had already been signed before congressional approval.

The station agreement still wasn't sitting well with President Macri when he came into office. In 2016, he sent his foreign minister at the time to Beijing to negotiate an annex to the agreement that stipulated civilian use - and China agreed. But one key point was still missing.

In that extensive review of the documents, Reuters and international lawyers could find no evidence that Argentina has clear oversight of China's activities to ensure they are only civilian in nature - the former foreign minister confirmed this, too.

When asked how Argentina would know if China wasn't making good on its commitment to civilian use, officials couldn't say - there really were no concrete answers. For me, that was the most revealing detail of the whole deal.

One thing CONAE did say was that radio emissions from the station were monitored, but radio astronomy experts told me the Chinese could easily hide illicit data in these transmissions or add encrypted channels to the frequencies agreed upon with Argentina.

Many government officials were reluctant to discuss the station. I asked Argentina's Ministry of Labor, Employment and Social Security if the site was ever inspected. A spokesman initially said he didn't think there had been inspections, then ignored requests for confirmation.

We traveled to Neuquen to see the station and speak to people who live nearby. We requested access from CONAE, Neuquen province and China's embassy in Buenos Aires - access denied. However, CONAE did say there will be media access in the future. No date yet.

Most people we spoke to in Las Lajas, a town 40 minutes from the station, said there was very little information about the station shared with them. Many were suspicious. Theories ranged from military base to nuclear bomb-building plant.

The town's mayor, Maria Espinosa, is a proponent of the station. She said she rented her house to Chinese workers before they moved to the site, and she hopes the antenna will help draw tourism to the area.

The 40-min drive from Las Lajas to the station is barren and dusty. There were no other signs of human life for miles around (key word: human... we did come across this wild bird.)

You emerge from a curve in the gravel road and suddenly it's there. The perimeter is surrounded by an 8-ft barbed wire fence. We hiked up this hill for a vantage point. The rest of this story is here: reut.rs/2DLJYoD Thanks for reading.