President Javier Milei’s government has suspended a joint Argentine-Chinese project to construct a huge radio telescope in El Leoncito, San Juan Province.
The China-Argentina Radio Telescope (China Argentina Radio Telescopio, CART), launched nearly a decade ago as a symbol of bilateral scientific cooperation, is in limbo after an agreement enabling its construction, which expired in June, was not renewed.
Co-promoted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, alongside the Observatorio Astronómico “Félix Aguilar” at the National San Juan University (UNSJ) and the CONICET national scientific research institute, the project was designed as part of a global network for space monitoring.
Equipped with a 40-metre dish, the US$350-million observatory was supposed to have a broader range than existing Chinese-operated antennae in Neuquén Province.
Scientific stakeholders at UNSJ expressed strong reservations. In a public statement, the university described CART as “the result of more than 30 years of cooperation” between Argentina and China and faulted the decision to halt it as subject to “circumstantial political interests.”
The UNSJ had previously warned of “the evident interference of foreign interests that condition the destiny of science and technological development in Argentina, which particularly affects cooperation with China and, consequently, the CART project.”
Officials managing the project say that, following the non-renewal of the agreement, key equipment shipped from China remained stuck in customs, preventing completion of the telescope’s assembly.
Marcelo Segura, project manager at CONICET, said in comments to a Chinese media outlet that the council no longer supported the initiative.
Observers, however, link the decision to broader shifts in foreign-policy orientation under the Milei administration, which has signalled a closer alignment with the United States and President Donald Trump’s administration. Local reporting suggests this strategic turn has contributed to the shelving of the China-backed scientific project.
Initial planning for the CART began in 2015 under ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The agreement involved the UNSJ, CONICET, the San Juan provincial government and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
In December 2024, the Milei government froze the entry of equipment sent from China for the base in San Juan, citing alleged irregularities in the documentation, Noticias Argentinas reported.
With the cancellation in San Juan the only remaining Chinese radar-facility of its kind in Argentina is the station operated by China in Bajada del Agrio, Neuquén Province.
– TIMES/NA
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