China says it discovered secret 'underwater lighthouses' being used for spying

China has accused its foreign adversaries of using hidden devices within the seabed and on the waves to spy on its maritime activities.

China says it discovered secret 'underwater lighthouses' being used for spying
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TL;DR: Beijing claims to have discovered "underwater lighthouses" and other surveillance devices allegedly used by adversaries. China's Ministry of State Security reported finding devices designed to gather marine information and guide submarines in Chinese waters.

Beijing has claimed it has discovered "underwater lighthouses" and other devices that are allegedly being used for surveillance purposes by China's adversaries.

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China's Ministry of State Security took to WeChat to make the accusations, explaining Chinese authorities discovered several devices that were all designed to gather information on their surrounding area, which was in the ocean. More specifically, China explained that it found drifting devices capable of "detecting and grasping the real-time situation in the sea area," with others that acted as "underwater 'lighthouses' to show the direction of submarines of other countries that have intruded into China's waters."

Beijing said the discovered devices were designed with the purpose of "covertly collecting marine hydrological information and data on the activities of various ships around them and serving the preset of the battlefield environment." Additionally, China alleged it discovered a base embedded into the seafloor, which is reminiscent of an allegation the nation made back in May of this year where it said it discovered "maritime espionage" within its waters when a fishermen allegedly said he found the above device.

"These devices have a variety of functions, not only to realize the dynamic perception of sensitive data, detection and collection, but also to store data, analysis, transmission and other functions," wrote the ministry back in May. "Most devices also have a self-destruct function, which can be automatically destroyed after the completion of the mission according to a pre-set program."

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Jak joined the TweakTown team in 2017 and has since reviewed 100s of new tech products and kept us informed daily on the latest science, space, and artificial intelligence news. Jak's love for science, space, and technology, and, more specifically, PC gaming, began at 10 years old. It was the day his dad showed him how to play Age of Empires on an old Compaq PC. Ever since that day, Jak fell in love with games and the progression of the technology industry in all its forms.

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