Chinese warned about foreign spies posing as NGO staff to target military units

Beijing’s top anti-spy agency has warned the Chinese public about espionage being carried out in the country’s border areas under the guise of philanthropy.

The Ministry of State Security announced on Tuesday that it had uncovered a case involving foreign spies operating near China’s military installations while posing as members of a charity organisation.

In a case briefing posted on its social media platform, the ministry said villagers living near an unidentified restricted military zone became suspicious of a charity worker surnamed Xia, who had persuaded them to provide sensitive information about the military unit.

“Thank you for your kindness, but why do you always ask about the military?” the ministry post said, quoting a villager’s question that had helped to expose the espionage.

It said its investigation showed that Xia and his team were operatives trained by a foreign intelligence organisation “affiliated with a certain country’s defence ministry that has long engaged in infiltration activities against China”.

The post said the foreign organisation had established training bases abroad to recruit personnel to train and spy in China.

Xia, an overseas Chinese, and his teammates had been sent deep into the southwestern mountainous areas of China after their training, it added. “Under cover of mountaineering expeditions and charitable relief projects, they conducted illegal surveying of the military bases in remote areas of China.”