View from Boat off coast of Billings Gate Island, Massachusetts View from Boat off coast of Billings Gate Island, Massachusetts | |||
 Carney Memes |  DHS Fine Illegals |  Kirk Court |  Dems Socialism |
 Pirro Seizure |  Rancher Meat |  G20 Asheville |  Never Socialist |
 Alvarado Endorsed |  Hung Cao Navy |  Pray For Texas |  Trump On Iran |
Chinese Shipper COSCO Collects Intel for Beijing With Concealed Equipment
https://gcaptain.com/chinese-shipper-cosco-collects-intel-for-beijing-with-concealed-equipment/
Excerpt:
China’s state-owned shipping giant COSCO uses concealed equipment on board its ships to spy on military communications near the coastlines of target nations including the U.S., two senior Trump administration officials said.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. assessment of the Chinese program, said COSCO has a decades-long intelligence-collection partnership with Beijing. The arrangement allows China to collect communication signals from vessels and aircraft operating across Europe, North America and Asia, they said.
The advanced equipment aboard the ships is intended to enable China to gather information about “military communications technologies and encryption developments,” one of the officials said.
The effort also allows Beijing to monitor key shipping lanes and maritime routes crucial for trade and military navigation, the official added.
COSCO did not respond to a request for comment, while China’s embassy in Washington rejected the U.S. claims.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping plan to meet in Washington for a summit later this month, when they are expected to discuss a range of sensitive security and trade issues.
The officials did not detail the type of equipment COSCO ships were allegedly using, but said they were “sophisticated signals intelligence collection” platforms, not routine communications hardware.
They said Beijing uses the information gleaned to bolster its position in territorial disputes and provide maritime reconnaissance and early-warning indications of foreign military targets.
China’s embassy in Washington said the Chinese government would never ask any company or individual to “collect or provide data, information or intelligence located abroad against local laws.”