China says foreign intelligence agencies are spying on it by fitting tracking and monitoring devices to sea turtles and fish, a tactic it says is used to gather information on weaknesses in the country's coastal defences.

China's Ministry of State Security has alleged that foreign governments are using sea creatures to try to create an "underwater map" of China's coastline and to steal sensitive information.

In a social media post, the ministry said sensors had been fitted to turtles and fish using a "new type of espionage technology".

It claimed that devices had been found attached to large marine animals in some areas. These collect data such as sea temperature, salinity and currents and send it abroad by satellite.

China did not name any particular country or agency. But its security ministry claimed the data could be used to identify weak points in China's coastal defences, and said the activity was a threat to national security.

The ministry also called for any equipment coming from abroad to be examined carefully, and asked fishermen to report any unusual buoys or devices they find at sea.

In recent years China has been involved in allegations and counter-allegations of espionage with several countries. International media have reported espionage cases and investigations related to China in various countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Greece.

China earlier arrested a US citizen on espionage charges. The US citizen is named U Min Jin. He was detained on suspicion of espionage and endangering China's national security.

Min Jin had gone missing last week from Kunming, a city in south-western China near the border with Myanmar. He was a student activist during Myanmar's 1988 democracy movement. He later fled to Thailand to avoid arrest by the military government, went from there to the United States, where he studied, and returned to Myanmar in 2010.

Sources cited: Euronews.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.