New Delhi: The Chinese ministry of state security cracked down on multiple spying cases in its aerospace sector, specifically Beijing’s space programme, according to local media reports.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), China’s top domestic intelligence service in a post Friday on the instant messaging application WeChat said it has, “uncovered multiple espionage cases in the aerospace sector, exposing the despicable acts of certain countries’ intelligence agencies attempting to infiltrate and steal secrets from our aerospace field.”
The WeChat post added that the ministry has dealt with cases including inducement and coercion by foreign spy agencies trying to steal “core secrets” of its extensive space programme, including remote sensing technologies, satellite communications, navigational positioning, and digital earth programmes.
“Especially with the development of China’s space technology, some countries view China as a major competitor in the space sector and spare no effort to contain and suppress China,” added the post by the ministry, as reported by the Global Times, a Chinese daily owned by the Communist Party.
While the post by the ministry names no country’s intelligence services, it is significant as just earlier this week the United Kingdom arrested and charged three individuals for espionage activities. The three individuals were allegedly working on behalf of the intelligence services of Hong Kong, a specially administered region by Beijing.
The British foreign ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador Tuesday to lodge strong protests against the increasing pattern of foreign interference in domestic affairs of the UK.
Similarly, Canada ordered a public inquiry into foreign interference by China (the inquiry also included allegations of interference by Russia, India and Pakistan) and its impact on the 2019 and 2021 general elections.
China, in recent years, has been expanding its space programme. On 3 May, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) launched the Chang’e-6 mission to bring back lunar samples from the far side of the moon.
China’s space ambitions have created a rivalry with the US. Beijing is aiming to launch a crewed mission to the moon by 2030 and eventually become a world leader in space.
It launched its own global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) – BeiDou – its answer to the US owned global positioning system (GPS). Along with Russia’s GLONASS and the European Union’s Galileo, it is one of the four GNSS, currently in operation.
(Edited by Tony Rai)