New Zealand says China tried using space investments to spy on local affairs

Intelligence Service says finding domestic threats is harder due to proliferation of toxic content online

New Zealand’s Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) has claimed Chinese companies are building space facilities in the nation to gather military intelligence.

Director-general of security Andrew Hampton yesterday made that allegation in the SIS’s annual threat environment assessment.

The document points out that New Zealand’s space sector is booming, because the nation’s location makes it “an ideal place to install Ground Based Space Infrastructure (GBSI) … to track satellites and space debris, as well as for collecting a range of other scientific data.”

The NZSIS has also found that GBSI is “attractive for foreign states seeking to advance military capabilities and intelligence operations.”

The report offers a case study of a China-based organization called “Purple Mountain Observatory” that has “close links” to Beijing and tried to install GBSI in New Zealand.

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