Senior U.S. officials are accusing China’s state-owned shipping giant COSCO of using hidden, sophisticated equipment aboard its vessels to collect intelligence on military communications in multiple countries, including the United States, according to a Reuters report.
1+The report claims two senior Trump administration officials said COSCO and Beijing have maintained a decades-long intelligence-gathering partnership. According to them, equipment installed on the ships allowed China to intercept communications signals from vessels and aircraft operating in Europe, North America, and Asia.
Additionally, one of the senior officials said the systems were designed in part to collect information on military communications technologies and developments in encryption. They also enabled Beijing to track major shipping routes used for both global commerce and military movements.
1+The officials didn’t detail what specific equipment was installed on the ships, but emphasized these weren’t routine communications systems—rather, advanced platforms for signals intelligence collection. According to the U.S. assessment, the intelligence gathered also helped China with maritime surveillance, territorial disputes, and early warning on foreign military targets.
According to the report, China’s embassy in Washington rejected the allegations, claiming the Chinese government does not require companies or citizens to collect intelligence abroad in violation of local law. The embassy called the intelligence-gathering allegations “baseless.”