SpaceX Spy Satellites: China’s Military, State Media Slam The U.S.

(CTN News) – A day after Reuters reported that Elon Musk’s SpaceX was building hundreds of spy satellites for an American intelligence agency, China’s military and state-controlled media accused America of threatening global security on Sunday.

A contract of $1.8 billion has been signed between SpaceX’s Starshield unit and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) for the development of the satellite network, Reuters reported on Friday, citing five sources familiar with the project as sources.

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has used its social media accounts to criticize the United States for its double standards and shamelessness regarding the SpaceX program, as the Pentagon accuses Chinese tech companies of threatening U.S. national security.

“We urge the U.S. companies to avoid collaborating with a villain who is doing evil,” Junzhengping, a PLA account, posted on the social media platform Weibo on Sunday. The account has a following of 1.1 million people.

There should be vigilance and protection on behalf of all countries worldwide from the new and even bigger security threats created by the United States government, as stated in the post.

According to an interview with Wang Yanan, the head of the magazine Aerospace Knowledge, which is overseen by the ruling Communist Party, the SpaceX satellite project poses a challenge to global security and stability, according to his publication.

It is inevitable that in the future, the United States’ high-profile intelligence reconnaissance of countries or regions that it is concerned about will lead to some hot issues becoming more sensitive or even escalating, Wang told the Chinese state-controlled newspaper The Global Times on Sunday.

There are several other companies that Musk runs, one of which is electric vehicle maker Tesla, which has a large manufacturing presence in China.

Neither Junzhengping nor the Global Times mentioned Musk or Tesla in their respective articles.

In response to the Reuters’ story, the NRO acknowledged its mission to develop space-based surveillance systems, but declined to comment on the degree of SpaceX’s involvement in this project.

Several requests for comments regarding the contract were made to SpaceX, the world’s largest satellite operator, but the company failed to respond.

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