{"id":733160,"date":"2026-06-13T01:11:21","date_gmt":"2026-06-13T01:11:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/733160\/"},"modified":"2026-06-13T01:11:21","modified_gmt":"2026-06-13T01:11:21","slug":"china-warns-of-spy-turtles-fishing-for-sea-secrets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/733160\/","title":{"rendered":"China warns of ‘spy turtles’ fishing for sea secrets"},"content":{"rendered":"

Foreign spies are fitting turtles and fish with sensors to create underwater maps of China\u2019s coastline, Beijing warned Friday in apparent reference to its Western competitors.<\/p>\n

\"AA sea turtle swimming underwater. File photo: OhCan, via Pexels.<\/p>\n

In a social media post ominously titled \u201cUnder the deep blue, undercurrents are surging\u201d, the Ministry of State Security said international spy agencies are using \u201cnew types of espionage equipment\u201d to steal sensitive marine data.<\/p>\n

\u201cRelatively large marine animals with sensors attached have been discovered in certain waters of China,\u201d the ministry said, in a section titled \u201cspy turtles, spy fish\u201d.<\/p>\n

The clandestine creatures were found \u201cswimming in a specific area, collecting sensitive data about the marine environment such as water temperature, salinity and ocean current, transmitting it overseas via satellite\u201d, it said.<\/p>\n

Foreign groups also used solar-powered wave gliders, buoys with high-precision sensors, and devices loaded onto cargo ships capable of capturing \u201cport dynamics\u201d in real time, it added, without naming a particular agency.<\/p>\n

The data collected would be used to create \u201cunderwater maps\u201d that can \u201cidentify weak points in China\u2019s coastal defences, posing a serious threat to China\u2019s national security\u201d, according to the ministry.<\/p>\n

The ministry urged proper security checks on equipment received from abroad, and called on fishers to report any fishy-looking buoys or devices found at sea.<\/p>\n

Beijing and Western governments have long traded accusations of espionage.<\/p>\n

Last year Beijing warned government workers to remain vigilant of \u201choneytrap\u201d schemes, after a public servant was lured<\/a> by the \u201cseductive beauty\u201d of a foreign agent.<\/p>\n

This month, the Five Eyes alliance of Western security agencies said Chinese spies were posing as job recruiters<\/a> online to seek sensitive information.<\/p>\n

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Dateline:<\/p>\n

Beijing,\u00a0China<\/p>\n

Type of Story: News Service<\/p>\n

Produced externally by an organization we trust to adhere to high journalistic standards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Foreign spies are fitting turtles and fish with sensors to create underwater maps of China\u2019s coastline, Beijing warned…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[56713,49,48,8636,263778,66,26031,26330,323],"class_list":["post-733160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-afp","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fish","tag-ministry-of-state-security","tag-science","tag-spy","tag-turtles","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}