Chinese citizens, sometimes posing as tourists, have gained access to US military bases and sensitive sites up to 100 times in recent years, according to The Wall Street Journal, ciat de News.ro.

Several US officials told the WSJ that the incidents pose a potential espionage threat, Reuters reported.

The Department of Defense, the FBI and other agencies conducted a review last year to try to limit these incidents involving attackers trying to infiltrate US military bases without proper authorization, the WSJ reported.

According to the article, these perpetrators ranged from Chinese nationals found passing through a US missile test site in New Mexico to divers swimming in murky waters in Florida near a government missile launch site.

How Chinese agents operate in the US

As for the incidents that took place in rural areas where there is little tourism, they usually involved Chinese citizens who were forced to provide certain services and then required to report to the Chinese government, the WSJ reported, citing officials familiar with the practice. .

The US Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the WSJ article, Reuters reported.

The reported incidents come as Washington and Beijing take tentative steps to ease bilateral tensions that have risen since a suspected high-altitude Chinese reconnaissance balloon flew over the United States in February and was shot down by the U.S. military near east coast

Washington also accuses China of trying for years to conduct espionage operations from Cuba, given that the communist island is about 100 miles from Florida.

In early June, The Wall Street Journal reported that Beijing had agreed with Cuba to set up a spy base on the island, but a US official later said that Chinese anti-US espionage operations in Cuba had been going on much earlier, and in 2019 China had upgraded its facilities to that end. on an island.