One thing stands out in the recent arrests of Chinese suspected to be spies: they’re all long-time residents of the Philippines, some with work visas and others married to Filipinos.
For those of us who are fans of spy novels, it was odd to learn that these reported spies used such crude tactics, far from the tradecraft we read about. They were highly visible, worked in groups, and used gizmos that looked bulky, at least for the Chinese national who posed as a road surveyor.
No honey traps or dead drops. Just gathering information in plain sight.
Citizen-spies are not unusual in China. In August 2023, the Ministry of State Security tasked its citizens to be on the lookout for foreign spies and their Chinese collaborators within their borders. It announced that “all members of society” should help in this campaign and offered rewards for anyone providing information.
In the two recent cases in the Philippines, it looks like Chinese citizen-spies are at work here.
‘Road surveyor’
During the Christmas rush last year, military intelligence picked up the scent of a male Chinese national, accompanied by two Filipino men, on frequent road trips. They were busily mapping certain locations from northern Luzon to the Bicol region to Palawan for more than a month.
“Naval operatives” who were hot on the trail of the three men brought the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) into the loop, passing on detailed information to them. In their report, the military operatives pointed to a “group of Chinese nationals, in the guise of developing autonomous (or self-driving vehicles), engaged in surveillance that compromised the country’s national defense.” What raised red flags were the sites surveyed, which were military facilities and vital infrastructure.
On January 17 in Makati, NBI agents approached the Chinese national, identified as Deng Yuanqing, while he was in his SUV operating some “ICT equipment.” The law enforcement team asked for his identification and any document authorizing him to conduct surveillance of sensitive facilities and critical infrastructure. Deng tried to hide his equipment and started to flee but without success.
In the hood of his Toyota RAV4, the NBI agents found an array of surveillance equipment, including mapping devices capable of determining coordinates “as precise as a centimeter” and generating coordinates which could be used for drone control and mapping topography and terrain, according to NBI cybercrime division chief Jeremy Lotoc.
Santiago said the data captured by the equipment were transmitted to China in real time since the equipment was “using real-time kinematic and global navigation satellite systems.”
Deng has been in the Philippines for 10 years or more, married to a Filipino. They have an 8-year-old child.
‘Tourists’ and buyers of marine products
Last month, five Chinese nationals suspected to be spies were arrested. They operated in Palawan: two of them posed as tourists and put up a CCTV camera up a tree, directed at the sea, without the permission of the resort owner. Military chief Romeo Brawner said their cell phones had pictures of military camps, pictures of Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) ships, and military equipment.
The others posed as buyers of marine products in Puerto Princesa City. These Chinese nationals were seen frequenting Ulugan Bay in Puerto Princesa “conducting aerial surveillance and reconnaissance, collecting imagery intelligence on the Naval Detachment Oyster Bay (NDOB),” which is part of the Navy’s Naval Forces West and is strategically positioned in the South China Sea, NBI’s Lotoc said.
Ulugan Bay is a large bay that includes the sheltered cove of Oyster Bay in Puerto Princesa from where ships heading to the West Philippine Sea sail.
NBI’s Santiago said these “spies” took photos of a Philippine Navy vessel using a drone. Other images reportedly found on the phones were of the Philippine Navy’s warships, terrain maps overlooking Subic Bay International Airport, the Naval Operating Base (NOB) in Subic, Zambales province, and a screenshot of a map identifying the NOB’s location.
These five men have been living in the Philippines for decades and hold legal status, the Bureau of Immigration said.
Just like the US
The Philippines is not alone. Similar incidents have been taking place in the US.
Chinese nationals, who sometimes posed as tourists, accessed US military bases and other sensitive sites around 100 times in recent years, according to a September 2023 exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal. The newspaper cited US officials, who described the incidents as “potential forms of espionage.” For example, Chinese nationals were found scuba diving off Cape Canaveral, home to the Kennedy Space Center, according to the Journal.
At an intelligence center in Florida, there have been repeated incidents of Chinese nationals posing as tourists swimming near the facility and taking pictures, the Journal said, quoting officials.
At least one incursion has led to arrests, with three Chinese citizens receiving prison sentences in 2020 after pleading guilty to illegally entering a naval air station in Key West, Florida and taking photos, the Journal said.
Earlier, in 2018, a Chinese student was sentenced to a year in prison for photographing an American defense intelligence installation near Key West, Florida. When he was arrested, the student claimed he was lost.
In the Philippines, we will see more of these citizen-spies as the tension over the West Philippine Sea continues to simmer.
Let me know what you think. You can email me at marites.vitug@rappler.com.
Till next newsletter!