Trump responds to Chinese satellite imaging report: China and the United States spy on each other

Faced with reports that China's satellite images were suspected of being involved in Iran's attack on the US military, Trump said that both China and the United States were monitoring each other. (Reuters)

Satellite imagery provided to Iran by Chinese entities is believed by U.S. officials to be related to the base attack in July that killed three U.S. troops. Faced with this intelligence dispute involving US military casualties, when asked by the media on the 13th, US President Trump turned the focus to China and the United States' mutual surveillance, saying, "We do the same to them."

Agence France-Presse reported that the controversy stemmed from a U.S. investigation disclosed by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). On July 17, Iran launched a ballistic missile attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, killing three U.S. Army soldiers and injuring four others. U.S. officials said Iran obtained high-resolution satellite imagery provided by Chinese entities before and after the attack, prompting Washington to investigate the role of the imagery in the attack.

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However, there is currently no evidence that the Chinese government was directly involved in this attack. WSJ pointed out that U.S. officials did not disclose the names of the Chinese entities involved, nor did they allege that Beijing directly ordered or participated in the attack; when China was questioned, it asked the U.S. to provide evidence and denied that Chinese companies were involved in providing relevant images.

When Trump was asked about the report on Air Force One on the 13th, he did not directly answer whether he would raise the matter when he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. "They say China spies on us, and I say you're right, we spied on them, too," he said. Trump went on to say that China "basically does the same thing we do."

This statement comes on the eve of the Sichuan-Xi meeting. The United States and China are currently expected to hold a summit on September 24, but China has not yet officially confirmed it. When talking about Xi Jinping, Trump still said that Xi "acted quite reasonably" and said that both the United States and China also "acted quite reasonably."

Satellite intelligence not only looks at bases, the US is concerned about maritime power

WSJ reported that the Trump administration sanctioned three Chinese satellite companies in May, accusing them of providing, collecting or publishing satellite images that Iran could use to target the U.S. military. U.S. officials said that the high-resolution images obtained this time also formed part of the investigation into the attack on the Jordanian base on July 17.

WSJ also quoted people familiar with the matter as saying that U.S. officials are also concerned about whether relevant intelligence provided by China may help Iran understand the movements of U.S. military naval forces; this part is still under investigation, and it has not been confirmed that relevant images have been used to target U.S. warships.