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ChiCom listening post on Kiribati was monitoring U.S. test range in Marshall Islands
From East-Asia-IntelChina is dismantling an electronic eavesdropping post on the island of Kiribati, after the islandâs government gave diplomatic recognition to Chinese rival Taiwan. The tracking station is believed to be engaged in electronic eavesdropping on U.S. military facilities in the region. The tracking station was secret until 1999 when a reporter visited it with a former Kiribati cabinet minister. At the time, the satellite dishes were aligned northwards towards the U.S. Army missile testing base at the Marshall Islandsâ Kwajalein Atoll some 620 miles away. Kwajalein is a key base used for developing the U.S. missile defense system. Chinese technicians were spotted burning files at the high security facility on Tarawa Atoll in Kiribati, according to a witness on the island. The shutting of the facility followed the on Nov. 7 decision by recently elected President Anote Tong to recognize Taipei. China protested the decision but did not immediately cut its diplomatic ties. On Saturday, Beijing announced it was severing diplomatic relations with Kiribati. The official Peopleâs Daily newspaper stated that the space tracking station is "not of crucial importance" to the Chinese space program. If another station cannot be set up in the region, China would send tracking ships to serve the purpose, the newspaper stated. And we will shadow the tracking ships. Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-12-03 |
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