Chinese officials reward fishing crews for finding underwater spy devices
January 19, 2022 2 Comments
GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS IN THE Chinese province of Jiangsu have publicly rewarded two fishing crews for finding and turning in to security authorities a number of “suspicious” underwater devices. In a leading article on its website, China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday that other fishing crews should come forward upon finding similar devices, to prove their patriotism and claim financial rewards from the state.
Tuesday’s rewards were handed out by state officials in Jiangsu, a largely coastal region in China’s east. It is located north of Shanghai and is among the most densely populated provinces in the country. According to Xinhua, local officials held a “Special Commendation and Reward Symposium for Coastal National Security and People’s Defense Lines”. During the ceremony, state officials reportedly commended and rewarded 11 fishing crew members and 5 land-based personnel for “salvaging and turning over” a number of “suspicious underwater” devices. The latter were described in the article as “reconnaissance devices” that had been “secretly deployed by foreign countries” in China’s territorial waters.
The report relayed an incident that prompted the initial discovery of a “device shaped like a torpedo”. The latter was collected by a member of a fishing crew and turned over to the Ministry of State Security (MSS). The device was reportedly found to pose “a national security risk”, as it had likely been deployed by “a new type of marine unmanned underwater vehicle, developed by a major country”. This alleged underwater vehicle is said to deploy reconnaissance devices that “can measure hydrological data and environmental parameters around China’s coasts”, according to the report. The report did not specify the name of the “major country” that is allegedly behind these devices.
The Xinhua report said that fishing crews in Jiangsu have found 10 underwater surveillance devices since 2020, and included a photograph of a display containing images of some of these devices. It claimed all were “foreign made”. The report concluded by congratulating the fishing crews for turning in the devices to the MSS, and urging more fishing crews to come forward with similar discoveries, so as to claim sizeable monetary awards and receive public commendations.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 19 January 2022 | Permalink
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Havana syndrome unlikely to be caused by adversary action, CIA report finds
January 21, 2022 by Joseph Fitsanakis 2 Comments
The matter first came to light in 2017, when Washington recalled the majority of its personnel from its embassy in Havana, Cuba, and at least two more diplomats from its consulate in the Chinese city of Guangzhou. The evacuees reported experiencing “unusual acute auditory or sensory phenomena” and hearing “unusual sounds or piercing noises”. Subsequent tests showed that the diplomats suffered from sudden and unexplained loss of hearing, and possibly from various forms of brain injury. In the most recent known case, “about two dozen” personnel at the US embassy in Vienna showed Havana syndrome symptoms in the first half of 2021.
But now a study by the CIA has concluded that the vast majority of Havana syndrome cases could be “explained by environmental causes, undiagnosed medical conditions or stress”. The study, described as “comprehensive” by CIA sources, supports the view that environmental causes, rather than “a sustained global campaign by a foreign power”, could explain most Havana syndrome cases. According to The Times, the conclusion of the CIA study is broadly shared by other members of the United States intelligence community, though confidence levels vary.
The Director of the CIA, William Burns, said yesterday that the agency had “reached some significant interim findings”, but would continue to investigate the Havana syndrome, given that two dozen cases remained difficult to explain. However, the conclusions of the study appear to have displeased many victims, according to The Times. One organized group of victims described the CIA study as “interim” and said that its results “cannot and must not be the final word on the matter”.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 21 January 2022 | Permalink
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