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China’s military dispatched a spy ship to collect warfighting secrets during the U.S. Navy’s major international exercises known as Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) that ended earlier this month, according to defense sources.
No details of the activities by the People’s Liberation Army navy auxiliary general intelligence ship, known as an AGI, were disclosed. The naval spying was detected near Hawaii during the military maneuvers.
One source said the Chinese ship did not disrupt the exercises involving 25,000 troops, 38 warships and more than 170 aircraft that ended Aug. 4.
However, with rising tensions and growing fears of a conflict with China over Taiwan, government and military officials were said to be concerned by the spy ship’s presence during the war games.
The vessel is believed to have gathered valuable warfighting information. Data gathered likely included details of tactics and procedures used in joint and international naval operations. Significantly, the vessel is believed to have scooped up large amounts of electronic signals intelligence and military communications.
Such intelligence is viewed by analysts as the kind of information that would give the PLA advantages in a future conflict.
An Indo-Pacific Command spokeswoman did not comment on the presence of the PLA spy ship at RIMPAC. But she said the command regularly monitors adversary naval activities in the region.
“U.S. Indo-Pacific Command routinely monitors air and maritime traffic in the Western Pacific to ensure security and stability of the region alongside our allies and partners,” the spokeswoman told The Washington Times.
“As part of our normal daily operations, we closely track all vessels in the Indo-Pacific area of operations through maritime patrol aircraft, surface ships, and joint capabilities,” she added.
Chinese intelligence monitoring of the RIMPAC exercises appears increasingly routine.
Chinese spy ships were detected near the naval maneuvers most recently in 2018, and an AGI conducted spying operations near RIMPAC in 2014 – at a time when Chinese navy ships were taking part. None were spotted in 2020 when limited maneuvers were held due to the pandemic.
The AGI spotted in 2018 was identified as a PLA Type 815 Dongdiao-class intelligence ship, the type of vessel likely sent to monitor RIMPAC this month.
Such spying operations are legal when carried out in international waters.
However, the Chinese spying on RIMPAC could provide the military with a convincing counter to frequent Chinese military complaints about U.S. and allied ships operating in the South China Sea that Beijing says are improperly spying and undermining trust and U.S.-China military relations.
A total of 26 nations took part in the latest RIMPAC with 38 surface ships, nine nations’ land forces, three submarines and around 170 aircraft.
