From “spy turtles” to sensor-laden wave gliders, Beijing has warned that foreign intelligence agencies are waging an invisible war beneath the surface of China’s waters – and that the country’s national security is increasingly at risk.
China’s ministry of state security has said that foreign intelligence services and spy agencies are using new and innovative methods to monitor Chinese territorial waters, including the use of “spying animals” fitted with sensors, according to state media citing a ministry post on the WeChat app.
The ministry noted that an “invisible secret war” is under way in the waters surrounding China, as foreign agencies deploy “spy turtles” and “spy fish” to create underwater maps, which pose a “serious threat to our (China’s) national security.”
According to the statement, these sensor-equipped animals gather real-time data on the marine environment and “transmit it abroad via satellite.”
In addition, the ministry reported the discovery of buoys installed by a foreign oceanographic research institute, each equipped with a meteorological sensor “capable of tracking signals from Chinese submarines in real time.”
The authorities also mentioned a new type of “wave glider” being used by foreign states to transmit “military data about the marine environment and information on vessel movements.”
Beijing regularly raises the alarm over espionage attempts in nearby waters. In 2024, China claimed to have discovered “beacons” on the ocean floor that could serve as navigational aids for foreign submarines, potentially allowing them to “prepare the battlefield in advance.”
In March, Reuters reported that dozens of Chinese research vessels had been charting the seabed in strategically vital areas of the Pacific, Indian and Arctic Oceans – information with potential military applications.
A year earlier, the South China Morning Post reported the launch of China’s first AI-powered underwater drone equipped with sounding rockets to gather meteorological data.
