Photo: Screenshot from the WeChat account of China’s Ministry of State Security

From trespassing and breaking into restricted areas to using drones for sensational footage, a series of typical cases involving individuals who attempted to use classified military sites as filming material in an attempt to attract public attention was disclosed by China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) on Tuesday. Such activities and unauthorized exploratory adventures pose serious risks to national defense and security and violate the law, the MSS said. 

In one case, a suspect surnamed Tang traveled to an area near an aircraft testing site and used a high-rise building as a vantage point to photograph military aircraft. Over two days, he captured images of several aircraft, including previously undisclosed equipment details, and posted photos of an unreleased model on social media. Although he deleted the post within 10 minutes, the images had already spread widely.

Authorities determined that the materials contained classified military secrets. Although Tang said he acted “out of curiosity” and to “show off,” he has been transferred to prosecutors for suspected illegal acquisition of state secrets. 

In another case, a suspect surnamed Wang broke into a military restricted area by picking a lock and scaling a wall, despite knowing it was off-limits. He secretly photographed sensitive military sites and planned to post the images on social media. The state security authorities and relevant departments detained him at the scene for investigation. 

Wang said he was part of an “adventure enthusiast” group led by another suspect surnamed Zhang, who allegedly organized repeated incursions into military restricted and military administrative areas to photograph classified facilities. Wang, Zhang and other participants will face legal penalties for their actions.

In a third case, a suspect surnamed Zhao and a drone operator surnamed Yang repeatedly flew a drone over a military airfield and training base to film the sites illegally. The state security authorities and relevant departments took action after receiving a tip and imposed legal penalties on them. 

The state security authorities said the three cases highlighted three common problems: a desire to show off, a lack of legal awareness and an underestimation of the value of fragmented intelligence. 

Some individuals, driven by vanity, used classified images to attract attention and ignored restrictions on filming sensitive sites. Second, there was a serious lack of legal awareness. Authorities warned that illegally obtaining, recording or sharing classified military information is punishable by law, regardless of whether the offender profits from it. They also cautioned that seemingly insignificant photos, video clips or data can be combined by foreign intelligence agencies to reconstruct sensitive information and threaten national defense and security. 

Global Times