Swedish Space Company To End Deal With China

Sweden's state-owned space company, which provides ground stations that help fly Chinese spacecraft and transmit data, said on Monday it would no longer renew contracts with China or accept new Chinese business, because of changes in geopolitics.

The Sweden Space Corporation (SSC) has had contracts allowing Beijing access to its antennas in Sweden, Chile and Australia since at least 2011. It said those contracts would not be renewed.

"The geopolitical situation has changed since these contracts were signed in the early 2000s. We have to assess where we can do business and it's harder for us to make that assessment regarding the Chinese market now," said Anni Bolenius, head of communications at SSC.

The company made the comments after Reuters reported that SSC would not renew a contract for China to use its ground station in Australia.

The company's Chinese contracts cover weather and earth-monitoring satellites as well as support for manned missions. SSC did not disclose when the contracts expire or say how many Chinese satellites it helps operate. Bolenius said such contracts typically last around 10 years.

Last year, the Swedish Defence Research Agency said in a report that China could make military use of its access to antennas at Sweden's Esrange ground station in the far north. China has denied that any satellites that are part of the contracts with Sweden are used military purposes.

The Australian antenna is located next to an SSC satellite station primarily used by the United States and its agencies, including Nasa. The site is owned by an SSC subsidiary, SSC Space Australia.

The Australian, Swedish and Chinese governments did not immediately respond to questions on Monday. (Reuters)