China has accused unnamed foreign entities of using devices hidden in the seabed and bobbing on the waves to learn its maritime secrets.
The nation’s Ministry of State Security made the allegation in a Tuesday post to its WeChat account claiming authorities seized a variety of devices from the sea floor.
The ministry alleged some of the devices acted as "secret sentinels" that operated for lengthy but unspecified periods for the purpose of "covertly collecting marine hydrological information and data on the activities of various ships around them and serving the preset of the battlefield environment."
Those "secret agents" are "detecting and grasping the real-time situation in the sea area; Some of them act as underwater 'lighthouses' to show the direction of submarines of other countries that have intruded into China's waters, in a vain attempt to conceal their whereabouts, thus seriously threatening China's national security," the agency continued.
The ministry resolved to prevent security risks and defend China's sovereignty, security, and development interest in the maritime sphere.