Chinese Embassy slammed US senators’ remarks on interfering China-Chile astronomical cooperation ‘outright Neo-Monroe Doctrine behavior’
The Chinese Embassy in Chile on Thursday firmly opposed the recent actions and statements by the US over a China-Chile astronomical cooperation project, condemning them as "outright Neo-Monroe Doctrine behavior."
During a recent US Senate hearing, ambassador nominee Brandon Judd disregarded Chile's sovereignty and its right to choose its partners, claiming that he would seek to "restrict China's access to Chile's resources." At the same event, US Senator Jeanne Shaheen criticized China-Chile astronomical cooperation.
Additionally, former US ambassador to Chile Bernadette Meehan pressured the Chilean government to cancel the China-Chile astronomical cooperationTransient Objects Monitoring（TOM）project before leaving office.
In its statement, the Chinese Embassy detailed the TOM project, short for Transient Objects Monitoring, which focuses on time-domain astronomy and aims to observe phenomena such as supernovae, gamma-ray bursts, gravitational wave counterparts and solar system objects using survey telescopes.
This project is of great significance, aiming to uncover fundamental questions such as the origin and evolution of stars, the nature of black holes, the state of neutron stars and the origin of superheavy elements in the universe, the embassy said.
Many survey instruments like TOM are around the world, the embassy said in a statement. In Chile, there is the large synoptic survey telescope (LSST) at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, which was installed in January this year with investment from the US government, as well as the next generation transit survey at the Paranal Observatory, a collaboration between Chile and European countries.
Additionally, there are important projects such as the Pan-STARRS in the US, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, the Catalina Sky Survey, and China's Mozi Wide Field Survey Telescope, all of which are key roles in cosmic exploration, it said.
The US side deliberately ignores that its LSST telescope at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory is completely consistent with the scientific nature of the TOM project and covers all the scientific research objectives, the embassy said.
By spreading disinformation about TOM and obstructing normal China-Chile scientific cooperation, it is engaging in outright Neo-Monroe Doctrine behavior.
The TOM project is a collaborative initiative between the National Astronomical Observatory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Catholic University of the North, based on mutual interests and conducted under the principles of equality, mutual benefit, openness, and transparency, the embassy introduced.
In line with Chilean laws and regulations, the project will be jointly built. Once completed, both parties will not only conduct joint observations but will also publicly solicit observation applications from international astronomical institutions, share observation time and engage in collaborative research.
Additionally, the project will support science outreach and astronomy education in Chile and Latin America by organizing scientific seminars and conducting educational activities for young people, according to embassy.