China Tries Spying With Plane, Ship, and Tourists Ahead of Taiwan Missile Test

A journalist (C) takes a photo of Taiwan's first domestically-produced missile corvette, the 500-ton ship Tuo Chiang (Tuo River), during the vessel's launch ceremony at the naval port at Suao in northeastern Taiwan's Yilan county on December 23, 2014. (Benjamin Yeh/AFP/Getty Images)

Taiwan was set to test its Patriot missile system, yet officials suspended the tests after they foiled several attempts by the Chinese regime to spy on the tests.

The tests are being held on the restricted Jioupeng Military Base in southern Taiwan.

The Chinese regime’s first spying attempts were among the more bizarre. According to the Taipei Times, several tourists from mainland China were caught spying and taking photographs near Taiwanese military bases and sensitive facilities.

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Some of the “tourists,” it states, were known officers and agents from the Chinese regime’s People’s Liberation Army.

Next came the boats and aircraft. As Taiwan was prepping for the two-day missile tests, the Chinese regime positioned a surveillance ship off its southeast coast and flew a spy plane near its territory.

“Our armed forces were fully aware of their activity and implemented countersurveillance and security measures,” the Taiwanese Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, according to the Taipei Times.

“We have surveillance systems for effective monitoring of the nation’s surrounding airspace and waters, and have contingency plans for the protection and security of our nation,” it states.

Taiwan’s radar systems detected the Chinese surveillance ship 60 nautical miles from its base. The same radar station detected the spy plane.

After the spy attempts were detected, Taiwan’s military officials suspended the launch and shut down the system to prevent the Chinese regime from gathering intelligence, an unnamed military source told the Taipei Times.