Chinese state-owned fishing company is cover for spy activities, report claims
May 20, 2021 Leave a comment
A CHINESE STATE-OWNED fisheries enterprise is in reality a front for military-related intelligence activities in the South China Sea, according to a new investigative report. The report was produced by Radio Free Asia (RFA), which is operated by the United States Agency for Global Media —an arm of the United States government. Entitled “Unmasking China’s Maritime Militia”, the report focuses on the Sansha City Fisheries Development Co., which is based on the island of Hainan, China’s southernmost province.
Established in February of 2015, Sansha City Fisheries Development Co. is a municipal state-owned enterprise that carries out industrial-scale fishing operations in the South China Sea. However, having analyzed official Chinese government data, including corporate records and third-party bidding contracts, RFA claims that “the company’s ships are engaged in more than just fishing”. In reality, the fishing company operates as an undercover arm of a shadowy force known as the Sansha City maritime militia, according to RFA.
The Sansha City maritime militia is believed to be headquartered at Woody Island (also known as Yongxing Island), the largest of the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea. It was allegedly established in 2013, with the goal of protecting China’s maritime claims in a region where Beijing is competing for influence against Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam, among other regional actors. Today the maritime militia is said to consist of over 100 vessels and nearly 2,000 militiamen and women.
According to RFA, Sansha City Fisheries Development is known to prioritize hiring veterans of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. Moreover, a number of service contracts signed between the state-owned fishing company and third party providers appear to include “state secrets protection” clauses, which typically refer to classified programs for the Chinese military or intelligence services. In recent years, at least two of the company’s ships were used to test classified information systems and command and communications systems, which “transformed [them into] mobile communications and surveillance platform[s] capable of transmitting intelligence back to the authorities on land”, according to RFA.
It should be noted that the Chinese government disputes these allegations. The RFA report quotes part of a statement by the Chinese embassy in the Philippines, which claims that “[t]here is no Chinese Maritime Militia as alleged”.
► Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 20 May 2021 | Permalink
Four highly trained paramilitary officers of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) died during a secret maritime operation off the coast of the Philippines in 2008, according to a new report. Yahoo News, which 
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Chinese officials reward fishing crews for finding underwater spy devices
January 19, 2022 by Joseph Fitsanakis 2 Comments
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
Filed under Expert news and commentary on intelligence, espionage, spies and spying Tagged with China, Chinese Ministry of State Security, Jiangsu Province (China), maritime surveillance, News, South China Sea