Beijing has discovered maritime spy equipment of unknown origin that could guide foreign submarines.

China’s Ministry of State Security announced it had found spy devices both on the surface and in the deep sea, including underwater “beacons.”

“The national security forces have seized a number of special technical devices used to monitor the sea,” the statement detailed.

The ministry did not specify where the devices were found.

“Some act as ‘secret agents’ drifting through the waves, monitoring the situation in our territorial waters in real time. Some act as underwater ‘lighthouses’, indicating the direction for foreign submarines encroaching on our waters,” the ministry explained.

Recent clashes in the South China Sea between China and the Philippines over territorial claims have raised the risk of escalation, potentially drawing in the United States, which is obligated by treaty to defend the Philippines if it is attacked.

The People’s Republic of China has also recently conducted military exercises around the island of Taiwan, simulating attacks and deployments of ships and aircraft, which has been condemned by Taiwan and the United States.

In addition, China claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea. This includes areas also claimed by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

At the same time, the Vietnamese Armed Forces are building a network of artificial islands to counter China’s Armed Forces.

The submarine arms race between China and the United States and its allies is intensifying. By the end of the decade, Beijing intends to commission a new generation of nuclear submarines.

“Faced with a serious and real threat of foreign espionage, our department will firmly defend China’s sovereignty, security and development interests and contribute to the creation of a strong maritime power,” the Ministry of State Security of China stated.

As a reminder, in 2013, the Ukrainian military conducted a covert operation to counter Russia off the coast of Crimea. At that time, Ukrainian navy sailors were looking for a Russian hydroacoustic buoy installed on a roadstead near the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol.