Foreign spies are fitting turtles and fish with sensors to create underwater maps of China’s coastline, Beijing warned on Friday in an apparent reference to its Western competitors.
In a social media post ominously titled “Under the deep blue, undercurrents are rising”, the Ministry of State Security said international spy agencies were using “new types of spying equipment” to steal sensitive maritime data.
“Relatively large marine animals with attached sensors have been detected in certain waters of China,” the ministry said, in a section titled “spy turtles, spy fish”.
The clandestine creatures were found “swimming in a specific area, collecting sensitive data about the marine environment such as water temperature, salinity and ocean current, transmitting it overseas via satellite,” he said.
Foreign groups also used solar-powered drones, high-precision sensor buoys and equipment loaded onto cargo ships capable of capturing “port dynamics” in real time, he added, without naming a specific agency.
The data collected will be used to create “underwater maps” that can “identify weak points in China’s coastal defenses, posing a serious threat to China’s national security,” according to the ministry.
The ministry demanded proper safety checks on gear taken from abroad and called on fishermen to report any fish-looking paint or gear found at sea.
Beijing and Western governments have long traded accusations of espionage.
Last year, Beijing warned government workers to be on the lookout for “honeytrap” schemes, after a public servant was seduced by the “seductive beauty” of a foreign agent.
This month, the Five Eyes alliance of Western security agencies said Chinese spies were posing as job recruiters online to request sensitive information.
