The American military base at Pearl Harbor, located in Hawaii, known for being the target of a surprise attack by Japan in 1941, which led the United States to enter World War II, may be facing a new threat at this time: the suspicion of Chinese espionage.
According to documents obtained by the Supervision Project of think tank The Heritage Foundation, a conservative organization based in the USA, and which were published on the website The Daily Signalat least 14 cases involving attempted illegal access or surveillance by Chinese citizens have been recorded at or near the base since 2018.
The documents obtained by The Heritage Foundation are under the responsibility of the Navy Consolidated Law Enforcement Operations Center and were requested under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act.
The organization claims that it tried to obtain other information about possible incidents of Chinese espionage in more American bases, but only Pearl Harbor decided to collaborate and provide the records they had on attempted infiltrations of citizens of the Asian country.
In the documents published by the website and obtained by the organization, cases are mentioned involving Chinese people who sent drones to fly over the base, suspects who took photos of the military installation's entry points, and even the beginning of a police chase against a vehicle that tried to approach from the scene and fled.
All of these cases occurred in the last six years and were investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the US Navy's police agency, according to the American website.
As reported by the Daily Signalamong the cases that were revealed in the documents that The Heritage Foundation had access to is one that occurred at the end of September last year, when, according to the records, two Chinese people – a man and a woman – were detained by authorities due to “circumstances suspicious” because they were “recording videos and taking digital photographs” outside one of the base’s entrance gates.
According to the American website, authorities responsible for the case later stated that both men also tried to enter the military installation.
Upon being detained, the two individuals were asked where they lived or where they were staying, to which they responded that they were only “visiting Hawaii for two days and did not have a hotel room”. The documents indicate that the two suspects were subjected to security procedures and were later released.
At the beginning of October last year, a few days after the incidents with the two Chinese suspects, another possible case of espionage was registered. This time, a Chinese citizen driving an unmarked car tried to enter the base through the same gate where the man and woman were caught last time, but to no avail. The case was investigated and then archived.
In March 2023, documents obtained by The Heritage Foundation and published by Daily Signal point out that yet another suspected case of espionage was recorded at Pearl Harbor. According to one of the records, a Chinese citizen was in a car parked near the military installation taking photos of the place.
Authorities cited in the document said they questioned the man, who said he was only taking “souvenir photos.” In the document, they state that they deleted the images from his device and escorted him away from the location. There are no records of detention.
Another troubling incident involving suspected Chinese espionage at the American base occurred in 2019, when a guard at a key entrance to the military installation notified authorities that a “black drone with a camera” was hovering near the gate for which he was responsible.
In the record, he said he had spotted the person who was controlling the equipment, who landed minutes later in a building next to the USS Arizona Memorial.
The American website states that the documents obtained indicate that the authorities made contact with the drone operator, a Chinese man, who only said that he was visiting the memorial, which is located at the base.
The equipment was used, according to the individual, to film some boats that he saw passing by the place. He justified the action by stating that he was “studying photography”. According to the American website, NCIS took over the case, but soon afterwards closed the investigation.
The documents transmitted by the Daily Signal They also cite a case that occurred in 2018, where the police carried out a car chase against a Chinese citizen who had approached Pearl Harbor suspiciously. The chase lasted a few hours, but the man was caught and detained.
The police document obtained by the American website does not mention how the entire procedure went, it only specifies that the suspect was escorted moments later out of the area close to the base.
The documents obtained by The Heritage Foundation's Oversight Project do not cite a specific reason why NCIS did not deepen its investigation into suspected espionage cases.
However, the American website reported that the documents handed over by the military to the think tank they were heavily edited, which may indicate that not all the information about the cases may be there.
Cases under investigation in the US House
According to Daily Signal, Last year, the US House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability began to more deeply investigate all these cases involving Chinese citizens who are accused of suspiciously and intentionally violating military rules and installations within American soil.
The website stated that the committee has even sent a notification along with the House National Security, Border and Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the matter to US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and FBI Director Christopher Wray , in October last year, where they mention that “Chinese citizens, sometimes posing as tourists, have accessed or attempted to access US military bases and other sensitive government facilities up to 100 times in recent years”.
Two Republicans from the US House of Representatives told the American website on Monday (5) that the United States needs to take more “precautions to protect its military bases from espionage by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)”.
“The CCP continues to surveil and probe American defenses even here on American soil,” said Republican Rep. Mike Gallagher, who chairs the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, in a statement sent to Daily Signal.
“We need to take common-sense precautions, such as preventing CCP-linked entities from purchasing land near our military bases or other national security-related infrastructure,” he added.
James Comer, a Republican congressman who chairs the US House Oversight and Accountability Committee, told the American website on Monday that “reports of Chinese espionage on American soil are deeply concerning.”
“It is essential that we ensure the security of our most sensitive military installations and protect the military personnel operating within them,” said Comer, noting that his Committee has already carried out several visits to US military bases.
In September last year, the Daily Signal reported that Gallagher also sent a notice with the support of Republican members of his select committee to both Austin and Wray, requesting a summary of China's actions within the United States that sought to gain access to military, economic and technol
ogical information.
That same month, the committee also sent another notification to US authorities revealing that it had discovered that “potential Chinese agents” had “infiltrated a US Army testing range, accessed multiple missile sites, and used drone technology to watch the land.”
The document, according to the American website, also mentioned that divers, suspected to be from China, were found near “a launch site for US spy satellites and other sensitive military equipment”.
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