China’s space programme targeted by ‘audacity’ of foreign agents, anti-spy agency warns

Ministry of State Security warns that foreign agents are targeting space scientists and researchers to steal information from China

A Shenzhou-19 spaceship and a Long March-2F carrier rocket are transferred to a launch platform on Tuesday.

Photo: Xinhua

China’s top anti-espionage agency has warned that foreign agents have been attempting to steal information from the country’s space scientists, adding that it has stepped up its counter-intelligence efforts.

In an article posted on its official account on WeChat on Wednesday, the Ministry of State Security (MSS) said some countries attempted to use “infiltration and espionage activities” such as inducing or coercing the researchers to acquire China’s latest research advances.

Without identifying any particular country or disclosing details, the MSS said national security agencies had investigated and dealt with some cases, “effectively countering the audacity of foreign espionage agencies conducting intelligence activities against China”.

The MSS added that overseas spy agencies have recently been using high-precision remote sensing satellites to conduct surveillance and steal information.

Space security is “a crucial pillar and important component” of national security, the agency said, adding that it is essential to protecting the nation’s space assets, rights and orbital environment from threats posed by both natural conditions and human activities.

“Safeguarding space security has become a key strategy for determining a country’s future survival and development,” it said.

After achieving several milestones in recent years, China’s space programme last week unveiled an ambitious road map to surpass the United States and become the world leader in space science by 2050.

Space is increasingly viewed as “a new frontier for economic growth, military conflict, and national security”, the agency said in the article, adding that “major and middle powers prioritise space development, leading to heightened tensions around space security.”

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Challenges include intensified competition for space resources, as abandoned satellites and rocket debris increase the risk of collisions with spacecraft, it said.

The MSS also accused “some Western countries” of intensifying an arms race in space, again, without naming the countries.

The article said the unnamed countries had established space combat forces with China seen as a key rival. They advocate space hegemony, and “spare no effort to contain and suppress us, which poses a threat to the peaceful environment of space,” the agency said.

Space is an escalating diplomatic flashpoint among major powers, especially the United States, Russia and China. Washington has accused both Beijing and Moscow of militarising space.

Beijing has repeatedly expressed its commitment to the peaceful use of space, while blaming Washington for sparking competition by establishing a space force.

In the article, the MSS stressed that space security represented an expansion of national security into new domains.

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Space security is “a crucial arena for safeguarding national strategic interests and showing national security capabilities, holding significant and far-reaching strategic and overarching importance for defending sovereignty, security and development interests,” it said.

Since raising its social media profile with the launch of a WeChat account in August last year, the MSS has frequently posted alerts on threats from foreign spies in a bid to promote national security awareness.

Earlier this month, the ministry launched a drama series on its WeChat account in which foreign spies pursue Chinese scientists. The series centres on an aerospace materials scientist targeted by foreign spies who sabotage his car, a plot that may have been inspired by a true case in which a military scientist died in a car crash.