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China's third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, on June 17, 2022. The ship has been a frequent target of amateur observers as it is being fitted out at a shipyard in Shanghai
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Seoul, South Korea CNN –
In the age of open-source intelligence, one of the main ways for Western experts to keep tabs on China's military is by analyzing photos of new People's Liberation Army equipment posted online by amateur enthusiasts.
Posting photos of military ships or aircraft taken from outside People's Liberation Army installations or from commercial flights near sensitive areas has become a common sight in recent years as China rapidly modernizes its armed forces. And “military fans” spread the word to the larger population on social media sites like Weibo, which has hundreds of millions of active users.
But not anymore.
In a WeChat post on Saturday titled: “This is a cool hobby, but you have to be very careful,” the Ministry of State Security said: “Some individual military enthusiasts are seriously endangering national military security by illegally obtaining information about the military Procure national defense and disseminate it on the Internet.”
“Focusing on military airports, ports, national defense and military-industrial units, they drove to or took ferries or planes passing on certain routes and secretly photographed them with telephoto lenses or drones,” the post from the extremely secretive civilian spy said Agency.
Repeat offenders could face up to seven years in prison, although “first-time or occasional offenders” may only receive a warning, according to the agency, which oversees intelligence and counterintelligence both in China and abroad.
The warning comes at a time when Chinese leaders are increasingly focused on ensuring national security across a range of sectors, particularly amid rising tensions with the United States.
For example, just earlier this year, the agency launched its social media account designed to warn citizens about the risks of revealing China's secrets to the outside world and call on them to join the fight against espionage.
According to the spy agency's post on Saturday, images posted online can show the construction progress of warships or aircraft while revealing operational and technical details of Chinese military equipment. The post specifically mentioned aircraft carriers as an area where security could be at risk.
China's newest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, has been a frequent target of amateur observers as it is being fitted out at a shipyard in Shanghai. The Jiangnan shipyard where the work is being carried out is close to the flight paths of Pudong Shanghai International Airport.
In November, Paris-based defense news site Naval News reported that the Fujian had begun testing its advanced electromagnetic catapult system, based on videos posted on Weibo that appeared to be from a Pudong passenger plane.
“Similar images from passenger aircraft have become a common source for tracking the progress of several major programs (PLA Navy),” Naval News reported.
The Fujian is certainly a showpiece for the People's Liberation Army Navy. The 80,000-ton warship, the largest military vessel ever built in China, is considered a competitor to the U.S. Navy's newest Gerald R Ford-class aircraft carriers, one of the few other carriers that use electromagnetic catapults to shoot down aircraft .
The photos of the alleged catapult test gave Western analysts an idea of how the PLA Navy is progressing in preparing the carrier for commissioning and active service.
And these images aren't the first images of Fujian to find their way onto the internet.
In April 2023, state broadcaster CCTV said in a news report that Mr. Luo, a “fairly well-known” military enthusiast, was sentenced to one year in prison in November 2021 after being arrested by the Shanghai National Security Bureau for attacking the Fujian aircraft carrier had photographed.
Luo used a drone capable of filming high-resolution photos from a long distance, the report said.
How the USA deals with images
It's not just China that is wary of amateur military observers who could leak sensitive information.
Under U.S. law, the president can declare certain military facilities and equipment off-limits to image creators.
“It is unlawful to take photographs, sketches, pictures, drawings, maps or graphic representations of such vital military and naval installations or equipment” unless prior authorization is obtained, the U.S. law states. Violators face up to one year in prison.
Of course, militaries can sometimes use open-source information to their advantage, said Carl Schuster, a former director of operations at U.S. Pacific Command's Joint Intelligence Center.
After photos of a suspected model of China's next-generation stealth fighter surfaced online in September, Schuster told CNN: “Given the location of the aircraft carrier and the likelihood that deck operations will be photographed or filmed, the PLA [Navy] might find it useful to encourage speculation about the future air wing of the Fujian,” just to give opponents something to think about.