The New Zealand government yesterday said it would pass legislation next year to prevent entities that “do not share the country’s values” from using it as a base to monitor satellites.
The nation’s location and clear skies make it a good place to launch and monitor satellites from, with the European Space Agency among those keeping an eye on space from New Zealand.
However, New Zealand’s intelligence service in September raised concerns about some foreign entities wanting to develop space infrastructure, which would have “assisted foreign military activity that could have harmed New Zealand interests.”
Photo: Reuters
The report did not say which country or countries’ military would have benefited if the plans went ahead.
However, the report said China remains a complex intelligence concern, but added that are other states that undertake malicious activity in New Zealand as well.
“The new regulations are intended to prevent the establishment or use of ground-based space infrastructure in New Zealand by entities that do not share our values or interests,” including the country’s national security interests, New Zealand Minister for Space Judith Collins said in a statement.
New Zealand has a small commercial space industry that is growing fast with government support.
A report released by the New Zealand National Intelligence Service said that New Zealand organizations have been approached by a small number of entities seeking to develop space infrastructure in the nation’s territory.
“These entities often claim the infrastructure will be used for civilian research purposes, but it was subsequently found in each case that what was proposed could have assisted foreign military activity that could have harmed New Zealand’s interests,” said the report, titled New Zealand Security Threat Environment.
THE ‘MONSTER’: The Philippines on Saturday sent a vessel to confront a 12,000-tonne Chinese ship that had entered its exclusive economic zone The Philippines yesterday said it deployed a coast guard ship to challenge Chinese patrol boats attempting to “alter the existing status quo” of the disputed South China Sea. Philippine Coast Guard spokesman Commodore Jay Tarriela said Chinese patrol ships had this year come as close as 60 nautical miles (111km) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon. “Their goal is to normalize such deployments, and if these actions go unnoticed and unchallenged, it will enable them to alter the existing status quo,” he said in a statement. He later told reporters that Manila had deployed a coast guard ship to the area
A group of Uyghur men who were detained in Thailand more than one decade ago said that the Thai government is preparing to deport them to China, alarming activists and family members who say the men are at risk of abuse and torture if they are sent back. Forty-three Uyghur men held in Bangkok made a public appeal to halt what they called an imminent threat of deportation. “We could be imprisoned and we might even lose our lives,” the letter said. “We urgently appeal to all international organizations and countries concerned with human rights to intervene immediately to save us from
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
RSS