Chinese nationals posing as lost tourists have attempted to sneak onto U.S. military bases and other secured sites more than 100 times in the past few years as Beijing experiments with nontraditional methods of espionage.
Some of the more audacious attempts have included so-called tourists accidentally scuba diving in the cloudy waters near a U.S. rocket launch site in Florida to people crossing into a missing range in New Mexico, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday. Others who were stopped claimed they were just following Google Maps and on their way to find food at a Burger King or McDonald’s before accidentally wandering into restricted territory.
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The incidents that took place in rural areas, where there was little in terms of tourism to bring people to the area, were largely carried out by Chinese nationals who were “pressed” into service, according to people who were familiar with the practice.
The goal of these “gate crashers” was to test security at U.S. military installations and on federal property and report back any weaknesses to the Chinese government.
While the Pentagon refused to comment on specific incidents or the countries that may be behind them, Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said Tuesday the “security of our installations remains a top priority and that physical security standards for our bases takes into account a wide variety of potential threats to include attempted spying by our adversaries.”
He said the Department of Defense has conducted several base security reviews since 2018 and that a recent review focused on the physical security conditions of our gates, adding, “The results of those reviews have and will continue to inform changes to protective measures at our bases.”
Ryder also said the “DOD conducts more than 10,000 controlled turnarounds of individuals who arrive at one of our 1,400 gates around the world” on a daily basis. Of those, “a very small number” of the turnarounds “warrant additional checks, and even a smaller number warrant an investigation.”
Most of the incidents are “generally low level,” and “so far none of them indicate espionage,” but the Pentagon would not confirm whether that included incidents involving Chinese nationals, he said.
Tensions between the United States and China have risen following the discovery of a slow-moving Chinese balloon that was eventually shot down in February by a U.S. fighter jet and discovered to have surveillance equipment on board.
“The Chinese government is engaged in a broad, diverse campaign of theft and malign influence without regard to laws or international norms that the FBI will not tolerate,” the FBI told the Wall Street Journal.
While the White House has not commented on the concern, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL) blamed the brazen attempts by China on the Biden administration and predicted there may be more incidents to come.
“This is just part of the avalanche of Chinese espionage we are under,” Waltz told the Daily Mail. “Communist China will continue to use these kinds of collectors against U.S. entities to steal intelligence, launch cyberattacks, or use other means like spy balloons [until] they are met with consequences.”
Waltz, a member of the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence committees, added that the Biden administration would prefer to set up “senior-level meetings with Chinese officials rather than show any strength.”
Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO) said the incidents highlighted in the report may prompt lawmakers to look into legislation on the concern, adding that the cases would have likely gotten lost in the system because most trespassing laws are state and local regulations, not federal.
“We need to work closely with our state and local partners to train them and equip them,” he said. “Right now, they don’t know how to deal with it.”
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The Chinese Embassy has pushed back on claims from the U.S. that its nationals are trying to gain access to military sites, calling them “purely ill-intentioned fabrications,” and urged U.S. officials to roll back the rhetoric.
“We urge the relevant U.S. officials to abandon the Cold War mentality, stop groundless accusations, and do more things that are conducive to enhancing mutual trust between the two countries and friendship between the two peoples,” said Liu Pengyu, an embassy spokesman.
