The Chinese regime’s military has a listening station on Hong Kong’s Tai Mo Mountain, the highest point in southern China, which they are allegedly using to spy on Hong Kong residents. From it, the Chinese military is likely monitoring phone calls, Wi-Fi traffic, and personal emails of people in Hong Kong.
Details were reported in the latest edition of the Canadian Chinese-language magazine Kanwa Information Review, which spoke with security experts who reviewed satellite images and traveled to the base.
The size and siting of the installation suggest it is not a radar station. It has a diameter of 51 feet—larger than a local radar station for civil aviation and one used as an observatory, according to Kanwa Information Review.
According to IHS Jane’s, the site and its perimeter covers an area of more than 100,000 square feet. The site contains a geodesic dome with an antenna mast nearby. Satellite imagery shows three such domes in total. It is also surrounded by fences topped with razor-wire and, according to IHS Jane’s intelligence, there are several security cameras on-site.
IHS Jane’s reports it has observed Chinese military vehicles driving up Tai Mo Mountain on two occasions to deliver supplies or replace staff. It reports, “It is extremely likely that it is an electronic and signals intelligence (ELINT/SIGINT) facility.”
Spying on Hong Kong
According to Hong Kong’s Apple Daily, a building near the listening station is guarded by at least 50 soldiers. The paper published a photo that shows soldiers wearing helmets and the “07-Style” blue military uniforms typically worn by members of the Chinese regime’s air force.
Their uniforms have no insignia and, according to the report, the soldiers are likely part of the Chinese military’s Third Department assigned for cyberspying. The People’s Liberation Army General Staff Department, Third Department, is the signals intelligence branch of the Chinese military, which also runs its cyberattacks against other countries.
The Third Department is one of the Chinese military’s three departments assigned to warfighting through espionage and unconventional warfare. The other two departments, also under the General Staff Department, are the Second Department, which focuses on human intelligence, and the Fourth Department, which focuses on electronics intelligence.
