China’s interior minister alleged that its waters are being secretly observed by marine life sent by foreign intelligence agencies.
The ministry warned in a post on the Chinese platform WeChat that foreign agencies were waging an “invisible secret war” through “a variety of new spying devices” in the seas around China.
“In recent years, the work of national security organs has found that overseas spy intelligence agencies continue to collect and steal sensitive data from our ocean through a variety of new spy devices,” the ministry said.
The ministry claimed that large marine animals have been fitted with sensors capable of collecting real-time data on water temperature, salinity, ocean currents, and other environmental conditions before transmitting the information abroad via satellite. Among the creatures allegedly involved were “spy fish” and “spy turtles,” according to the ministry.
The use of marine animals for military purposes is not unprecedented. Since the 1960s, the U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program has trained bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions to detect, locate, mark, and recover objects in harbors, coastal waters, and the open ocean.
During the program’s early years, researchers tested more than a dozen marine mammal species, as well as sharks, rays, sea turtles, and marine birds. Today, the program primarily relies on bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions.
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China’s allegations come amid heightened concerns in Beijing about foreign intelligence-gathering efforts in nearby waters, including the South China Sea, East China Sea, and the Taiwan Strait, some of the world’s most strategically sensitive and heavily contested maritime regions.
In 2024, the ministry said it had discovered underwater “lighthouses” hidden on the ocean floor that could help guide foreign submarines and “pre-set the field for battle.”
