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Two Trump administration officials told Reuters that the Chinese state-owned shipping giant Cosco Shipping allegedly uses hidden equipment aboard its vessels to spy on military communications near the coasts of target nations, including the United States.
The informants, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the U.S. assessment of the Asian country's program, stated that Cosco Shipping maintains a decades-long intelligence gathering alliance with Beijing.
In line with this, the agreement allows China to intercept communication signals from ships and aircraft operating in Europe, North America, and Asia.
The advanced equipment aboard the vessels aims to enable China to collect information on "military communication technologies and encryption developments," one of the officials noted.
"This effort also allows Beijing to monitor key maritime corridors and routes crucial for trade and military navigation," he added.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are scheduled to meet in Washington at a summit later this month, where they are expected to discuss a range of sensitive security and trade issues.
The officials did not detail the type of equipment allegedly used by Cosco Shipping vessels but stated that they were "sophisticated signals intelligence collection platforms" and not routine communications hardware.
They indicated that Beijing uses the information obtained to strengthen its position in territorial disputes, as well as to provide maritime reconnaissance and early warnings about foreign military targets.
The Chinese embassy in Washington stated that the Chinese government would never ask any company or individual to "collect or provide data, information, or intelligence located abroad in violation of local laws."
"We oppose slandering China by promoting the narrative of so-called intelligence gathering, which is completely unfounded," embassy spokesperson Liu Chang told Reuters.
A report published by the U.S. Naval War College in April 2025 noted that the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) was likely leveraging the country's fishing and commercial shipping fleets for intelligence and surveillance activities.
The Pentagon included Cosco Shipping on its list of companies linked to the Chinese military in January 2025, a designation that carries serious reputational costs for companies, as well as a ban on contracting by the U.S. Government, but does not involve formal sanctions.
Chinese law requires companies in the country to cooperate with government intelligence efforts. Despite this, Cosco Shipping remains one of the leading global shipping companies that dock at U.S. ports and maintains several joint venture terminal services for container ships in these ports.
Last year, the Trump administration planned to apply billions of dollars in port fees to Chinese shipping companies, including Cosco Shipping, in an effort to revitalize America's stunted maritime and shipbuilding industries.
However, the plan was suspended after Trump reached an agreement last October with Xi for a one-year truce in the trade war. The agreement expires in November, and a possible extension is expected to be one of the topics of discussion in September's talks between the two leaders.
Isaac Kardon, an expert on Chinese maritime strategy at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, noted that the U.S. Government would likely have difficulty decisively addressing these security concerns, given the extent to which Cosco Shipping is integrated into U.S. trade.
"Extracting Cosco from our supply chains and transportation networks could be life-or-death surgery for U.S. commercial networks," Kardon said.
