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Digital snooping site
in China¡¦s Fujian upgraded
EAVESDROPPING: Intelligence specialists have
reportedly spotted parabolic dishes that would allow the Chinese military to
intercept signals in a higher frequency band
Staff writer, with CNA, Washington
China has upgraded a key eavesdropping site in Fujian Province opposite Taiwan,
according to images taken by new commercial satellites, a US weekly reported on
Monday.
Defense News reported from Taipei that according to an analysis of
high-definition satellite photographs, an eavesdropping facility on Dongjing
Shan, near Daqiu village in China¡¦s Fujian Province, has been upgraded and can
now cover all of Taiwan and even a US base in Okinawa.
With the recent release of high-resolution imagery by Google Earth and
Terraserver, electronic intelligence (ELINT) specialists said they have spotted
parabolic dishes not seen in previous lower-resolution imagery from
non-classified sources.
¡§The new parabolic dishes indicate that the PLA [People¡¦s Liberation Army] is
intercepting electronic signals in a higher frequency band than a couple of
decades ago,¡¨ Defense News quoted Desmond Ball, an ELINT specialist at
Australian National University¡¦s Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, as
saying. ¡§It means that nearly all electronic signals emanating from northern
Taiwan are vulnerable to interception at this facility.¡¨
Ball said the new facility gives China an edge in digital warfare and that
Chinese fighters and vessels nearing Taiwan could use the information to engage
in counter-digital reconnaissance.
Another unnamed specialist told Defense News that the new imagery revealed three
new radomes, which are weatherproof enclosures that protect radar antenna.
A US aerial reconnaissance mission first spotted the coastal facility in 1965,
and since then, the US and Taiwanese intelligence communities have been watching
it closely.
The facility lies 804.5km from US forces on Okinawa, 563km from the digital
information facility on Miyako Island in Okinawa Prefecture, 136.5km from the
surface-to-air Sky Bow missile facility on Matsu (°¨¯ª) in Taiwan¡¦s Lienchiang
County and 145km from the west coast of Taiwan proper.
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