COSCO Denies US Allegations of Spying on Military Communications
China's state-owned shipping giant COSCO has denied allegations by two senior Trump administration officials that its commercial vessels were fitted with hidden devices to spy on military communications and gather intelligence for Beijing. In a statement on September 3, COSCO called the claims baseless and said it firmly opposes them. The company said all equipment on its ships is for normal commercial operations, such as navigation and safety.
China's state-owned shipping giant COSCO has denied allegations that its commercial vessels were fitted with hidden devices to monitor military communications and collect intelligence for Beijing, calling the claims "completely unfounded." On September 1, two senior officials from the Trump administration made the accusations, also asserting that COSCO has a decades-long intelligence-gathering partnership with Beijing. In a statement on its website on September 3, COSCO denied and "firmly opposed" the allegations.
The statement said that the communication, navigation, safety, and operational equipment installed on the company's vessels is used solely for normal commercial purposes, including navigational safety, ship-to-shore communication, and emergency response, and that there is no behavior involving the use of commercial ships to monitor military communications or collect intelligence. COSCO said it firmly opposes any act that damages the company's brand image or disrupts its international operations through misinformation, and it reserves the right to protect its corporate reputation in accordance with the law. Headquartered in Shanghai, COSCO is a leading global shipping conglomerate with the world's largest fleet capacity, ranking 212th on the Fortune Global 500 list in 2025.