Are China’s civilian satellites being used to spy on a Japanese airbase?

Weibo account posts photos of base Japan uses to expel foreign aircraft – mostly Chinese, and nearly always near the disputed Diaoyu Islands

The Earth observation satellites offer strategic ambiguity, analyst says

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One of the images posted by the Weibo account named China Aerospace. Photo: Weibo

Published: 6:15am, 7 Jan 2020Updated: 8:36pm, 17 Feb 2020

Photographs of a Japanese military base have been published on Chinese social media, suggesting that China’s civilian satellites are being used to gather intelligence for military purposes.

Three animated GIFs were posted on microblogging platform Weibo on Thursday by an account called China Aerospace – also the name of the Chinese space programme’s main contractor. The account is not officially that of the company, but features news and videos closely related to its work.

The GIFs showed planes taking off from and landing at a Japanese air force base in Naha, in southern Japan’s Okinawa prefecture.

A zoomed-in image showed more than 10 planes stationed at the Japan Air Self-Defence Force base, and vehicles could be seen driving past the base.

The images were credited to Chang Guang Satellite Technology, China’s first commercial remote sensing satellite company, which owns the Jilin-1 satellites. The three images were taken on December 14, according to the Weibo post.