Chinese Shipping Giant COSCO Accused of Spying for Beijing. U.S. Officials Say Ships Used Concealed Equipment.
China‘s state-owned shipping giant COSCO has allegedly used concealed surveillance equipment aboard commercial vessels to collect intelligence for Beijing, including information about military communications near the coastlines of the United States and other countries.
Two senior Trump administration officials exclusively told Reuters that COSCO has maintained an intelligence-gathering relationship with the Chinese government for decades. The officials, who spoke anonymously because they were discussing a U.S. intelligence assessment, said the program allows Beijing to collect communications signals from ships and aircraft operating across North America, Europe and Asia.
The equipment allegedly installed aboard COSCO vessels goes well beyond the communications technology routinely found on commercial ships. U.S. officials described it as “sophisticated signals intelligence collection” equipment capable of helping China gather information about military communications technology and advances in encryption.
One official said China can use the information to improve maritime reconnaissance, identify potential foreign military targets and obtain early-warning information. Such intelligence could also strengthen Beijing’s position in territorial disputes. COSCO did not respond to Reuters’ request for comment. The Chinese Embassy in Washington strongly rejected the U.S. allegations.
“We oppose vilifying China by peddling the so-called ‘intelligence collection’ narrative, which is totally baseless,” embassy spokesperson Liu Chang told Reuters. The embassy said Beijing would never require a company or individual to collect intelligence abroad in violation of local laws.
The allegations add another layer to longstanding U.S. concerns about connections between China’s enormous civilian maritime industry and its military and intelligence operations.
An April 2025 report from the U.S. Naval War College examined how China’s fishing and commercial fleets could be used for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. The report said People’s Liberation Army experts have advocated placing intelligence personnel aboard Chinese vessels operating overseas and concluded that such activity was likely already occurring.
The Pentagon also placed COSCO on its Section 1260H list of companies it considers linked to China’s military in January 2025. The Defense Department said the designation is part of an effort to counter China’s “Military-Civil Fusion” strategy, through which Beijing seeks to make civilian technology and expertise available to the PLA.
The designation does not amount to formal economic sanctions, however, and COSCO remains deeply embedded in global commerce. It continues to call at American ports and participates in terminal-service joint ventures in the United States.
That economic footprint could make any U.S. attempt to substantially restrict COSCO particularly complicated. “Taking COSCO out of our supply chains and transport networks could be life-threatening surgery to U.S. trade networks,” Isaac Kardon, an expert on Chinese maritime strategy at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told Reuters.
The allegations also emerge at a particularly sensitive moment in U.S.-China relations. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to meet in Washington later in September, with trade and national security among the issues likely to dominate their talks.
The Trump administration previously planned billions of dollars in new port fees targeting Chinese shipping companies, including COSCO, as part of an effort to revive U.S. shipbuilding. However, those plans were paused following a trade détente between Trump and Xi last October.
