U.S. Officials Say Chinese Shipping Giant COSCO Used Covert Equipment to Gather Intelligence for Beijing
Translated from Estonian and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.
At a glance
- Two senior Trump administration officials alleged that state-owned Chinese shipping company COSCO uses concealed equipment to monitor military communications near coastal targets, including the United States.
- The officials said COSCO has maintained a decades-long intelligence-gathering partnership with Beijing.
- They spoke anonymously while discussing the U.S. assessment of China's program.
State-owned Chinese shipping giant COSCO uses hidden equipment aboard its vessels to monitor military communications near the coasts of targets including the United States, two senior Trump administration officials said.
The officials described the alleged activity as part of a decades-long intelligence-gathering partnership between COSCO and Beijing.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing the U.S. assessment of China's program. The allegations place one of the world's largest shipping companies at the center of concerns over the use of commercial vessels for intelligence collection.
Originally published by Postimees in Estonian. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.