WikiMini

Chinese espionage in Hawaii

Joint Base Pearl Harbor–Hickam, a key U.S. military installation in the Pacific and a target of Chinese intelligence in Hawaii.

Hawaii is one of the targets of the People's Republic of China's intelligence efforts in the United States. The state hosts a large U.S. military presence in the Pacific Ocean. Chinese intelligence activities have included reconnaissance by sea, air, and space, traditional forms of espionage, as well as cyberwarfare and information operations.

Military significance

[edit]
Further information: Island chain strategy

The geostrategic and military importance of Hawaii due to its location in the Pacific has been recognized by American diplomats and heads of state for well over a century.[1][2][3][4] Hawaii hosts key commands from all branches of the United States Armed Forces, including United States Army Pacific, United States Marine Corps Forces, Pacific, United States Pacific Fleet, Pacific Air Forces, and United States Space Forces – Indo-Pacific, all of which report to United States Indo-Pacific Command. It serves as the forward edge of their operations in the Indo-Pacific.[5] The National Security Agency's Hawaii Cryptologic Center also serves important functions for military intelligence.[6]

Chinese activities

[edit]

Reconnaissance

[edit]

China has conducted apparent technical collection by sea, air, and space. The U.S. Navy has confirmed several instances of spy ships of the Chinese PLA Navy loitering off the Hawaiian coastline.[7][8] In 2014, the Chinese spy ship Beijixing was reported in waters close to Hawaii during the RIMPAC military exercises.[9][10] In 2018, another Chinese Type 815 spy ship was reported nearby during RIMPAC.[8][11][12]

In 2023, a high altitude spy balloon launched from central China overflew Hawaii on a mission to collect intelligence on U.S. military bases in Hawaii and Guam when it blew off course, causing an international incident which culminated in the balloon being shot down by the United States Air Force.[13][14]

In January 2023, the Japanese government's Subaru Telescope, located at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, identified China's Daqi-1 satellite scanning the Big Island with a laser instrument which can be used for precision topographical mapping.[15]

Espionage

[edit]

In 2011, a federal court in Hawaii sentenced Noshir Gowadia, an engineer who helped to design the Northrop B-2 Spirit, to 32 years in prison for selling classified information about the stealth bomber to the Chinese government.[16]

In 2019, Assistant General Attorney for National Security John Demers publicly warned of China's industrial espionage against the island after meeting with Hawaiian officials as part of the program known as the China Initiative.[17]

In 2024, Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, a former CIA Operations Officer and FBI Honolulu Field Office translator who resided on Oahu, was sentenced to ten years in federal prison for serving as a mole for China's Ministry of State Security (MSS).[18]

Chinese human intelligence also includes so-called "gate crashers", individuals who claim to be tourists but "accidentally" wander into or photograph sensitive facilities have also been present on the island. Such incidents follow national trends and appear to be a fixture of amateurish Chinese intelligence operations in the contiguous United States as well.[19]

Cyberspace

[edit]

In 2019 the University of Hawaiʻi's Applied Research Laboratory was targeted in a successful cyberattack by the hacking group APT40 linked to the Hainan State Security Department.[20][21] Analysts believe that the hackers were interested in military technologies such as firing antiship missiles from a submarine underwater, undersea acoustic communications, and raw data of projects sponsored by the U.S. government.[20]

In September 2023, the Chinese government launched an online disinformation operation targeting Hawaiian locals, attempting to convince them that a secret U.S. government "weather weapon" had sparked the 2023 wildfires in Lahaina.[22]

In 2023 Volt Typhoon, an advanced persistent threat attributed to China's People's Liberation Army Cyberspace Force,[23] reportedly penetrated the systems of a Hawaiian water utility company.[24] Analysts have stated that such cyberattacks against critical infrastructure can facilitate future sabotage in the event of a military conflict between China and the U.S. in the Western Pacific.[24]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Scott, David (July 2012). "US Strategy in the Pacific – Geopolitical Positioning for the Twenty-First Century". Geopolitics. 17 (3): 607–628. doi:10.1080/14650045.2011.631200. ISSN 1465-0045.
  2. ^ LeFevre, Alexi (September 14, 2022). "The Geopolitics of US Maritime Priorities in the Indo-Pacific". Journal of Indo-Pacific Affairs. Air University.
  3. ^ Holmes, James R. (May 20, 2013). "The Geopolitics of Hawaii". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
  4. ^ Holmes, James R. (February 16, 2011). "Island Chains Everywhere". The Diplomat. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
  5. ^ "The Strategic Importance of Hawaii's Military Presence". Military and Community Relations Office. 2025-05-09. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  6. ^ Yerton, Stewart (2020-01-06). "Cyber Spies Are Quietly Boosting Hawaii's High Tech Economy". Honolulu Civil Beat. Archived from the original on 2025-02-11. Retrieved 2025-07-28.
  7. ^ Knodell, Kevin (2025-07-10). "Military watching Chinese naval ship near Hawaii". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Archived from the original on 2025-07-10. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  8. ^ a b Browne, Ryan (2018-07-13). "Pentagon says China spying on military exercises". CNN. Archived from the original on 2025-01-04. Retrieved 2025-01-04.
  9. ^ LaGrone, Sam (2014-07-19). "China Sends Uninvited Spy Ship to RIMPAC". USNI News. Archived from the original on 2025-07-07. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  10. ^ Erickson, Andrew S.; de La Bruyere, Emily (July 29, 2014). "China's RIMPAC Maritime-Surveillance Gambit". National Interest. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  11. ^ Cole, William (2018-07-13). "Chinese spy ship eyes RIMPAC". Honolulu Star-Advertiser. Archived from the original on 2025-05-15. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  12. ^ LaGrone, Sam (2018-07-13). "Navy: Chinese Spy Ship Monitoring RIMPAC Exercise, Again". USNI News. Archived from the original on 2025-07-01. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  13. ^ Wong, Edward; Barnes, Julian E.; Entous, Adam (2023-02-15). "How a Fog of Questions Over a Spy Balloon and U.F.O.s Fed a Diplomatic Crisis". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2025-06-04. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  14. ^ Martin, David (2023-09-17). "The bizarre secret behind China's spy balloon". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 2023-09-18. Retrieved 2023-09-18.
  15. ^ Brodsky, Sascha (2023-02-21). "China Flashed Mysterious Green Lasers Over Hawaii, NASA Says". Popular Mechanics. Archived from the original on 2025-07-05. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  16. ^ Hannas, William C.; Mulvenon, James; Puglisi, Anna B. (2013-06-14). Chinese Industrial Espionage: Technology Acquisition and Military Modernisation. Routledge. p. 258. doi:10.4324/9780203630174. ISBN 978-1-135-95254-9. OCLC 1081421916.
  17. ^ Yerton, Stewart (2019-12-05). "Feds: Chinese Industrial Spies Have Great Interest In Hawaii". Honolulu Civil Beat. Archived from the original on 2022-11-26. Retrieved 2025-07-10.
  18. ^ Sinco Kelleher, Jennifer (2024-09-11). "Ex-CIA officer who spied for China gets 10 years in prison — and a lifetime of polygraph tests". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2025-05-06. Retrieved 2025-07-24.
  19. ^ Lubold, Gordon; Strobel, Warren P.; Viswanatha, Aruna (September 4, 2023). "Chinese Gate-Crashers at U.S. Bases Spark Espionage Concerns". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on May 10, 2025. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  20. ^ a b Volz, Dustin (2019-03-05). "Chinese Hackers Target Universities in Pursuit of Maritime Military Secrets". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved 2025-07-29.
  21. ^ Mozur, Paul; Buckley, Chris (2021-08-26). "Spies for Hire: China's New Breed of Hackers Blends Espionage and Entrepreneurship (Published 2021)". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-08-27. Retrieved 2023-08-07.
  22. ^ Sanger, David E.; Myers, Steven Lee (2023-09-11). "China Sows Disinformation About Hawaii Fires Using New Techniques". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on September 11, 2023. Retrieved 2023-09-11. Recorded Future first reported that the Chinese government mounted a covert campaign to blame a "weather weapon" for the fires, identifying numerous posts in mid-August falsely claiming that MI6, the British foreign intelligence service, had revealed "the amazing truth behind the wildfire." Posts with the exact language appeared on social media sites across the internet, including Pinterest, Tumblr, Medium and Pixiv, a Japanese site used by artists.
  23. ^ Martin, Ciaran (20 March 2025). "Typhoons in Cyberspace". Royal United Services Institute. Archived from the original on 2025-04-22. Retrieved 2025-04-28.
  24. ^ a b Nakashima, Ellen; Menn, Joseph (2023-12-11). "China's cyber army is invading critical U.S. services". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2023-12-13. Retrieved 2025-07-24.