Hawaii is one of the targets of thePeople's Republic of China's intelligence efforts in the United States. The state hosts a large U.S.military presence in thePacific Ocean. Chinese intelligence activities have includedreconnaissance by sea, air, and space, traditional forms of espionage, as well ascyberwarfare andinformation operations.
Thegeostrategic and military importance of Hawaii due to its location in the Pacific has been recognized by American diplomats and heads of state for well over a century.[1][2][3][4] Hawaii hosts key commands from all branches of theUnited States Armed Forces, includingUnited States Army Pacific,United States Marine Corps Forces, Pacific,United States Pacific Fleet,Pacific Air Forces, andUnited States Space Forces – Indo-Pacific, all of which report toUnited States Indo-Pacific Command. It serves as the forward edge of their operations in theIndo-Pacific.[5] TheNational Security Agency'sHawaii Cryptologic Center also serves important functions formilitary intelligence.[6]
China has conducted apparent technical collection by sea, air, and space. The U.S. Navy has confirmed several instances ofspy ships of the ChinesePLA Navy loitering off the Hawaiian coastline.[7][8] In 2014, theChinese spy shipBeijixing was reported in waters close to Hawaii during theRIMPAC military exercises.[9][10] In 2018, another ChineseType 815 spy ship was reported nearby during RIMPAC.[8][11][12]
In 2023, ahigh altitude spy balloon launched from central China overflew Hawaii on a mission to collect intelligence on U.S. military bases in Hawaii andGuam when it blew off course, causing an international incident which culminated in the balloon being shot down by theUnited States Air Force.[13][14]
In January 2023, theJapanese government'sSubaru Telescope, located atMauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii, identified China'sDaqi-1 satellite scanning theBig Island with a laser instrument which can be used for precisiontopographical mapping.[15]
In 2011, a federal court in Hawaii sentencedNoshir Gowadia, an engineer who helped to design theNorthrop B-2 Spirit, to 32 years in prison for selling classified information about the stealth bomber to the Chinese government.[16]
In 2019, Assistant General Attorney for National SecurityJohn Demers publicly warned of China'sindustrial espionage against the island after meeting with Hawaiian officials as part of the program known as theChina Initiative.[17]
In 2024,Alexander Yuk Ching Ma, a formerCIAOperations Officer andFBI Honolulu Field Office translator who resided onOahu, was sentenced to ten years in federal prison for serving as amole for China'sMinistry of State Security (MSS).[18]
Chinesehuman intelligence also includes so-called "gate crashers", individuals who claim to be tourists but "accidentally" wander into or photograph sensitive facilities have also been present on the island. Such incidents follow national trends and appear to be a fixture of amateurish Chinese intelligence operations in thecontiguous United States as well.[19]
In 2019 theUniversity of Hawaiʻi's Applied Research Laboratory was targeted in a successfulcyberattack by the hacking groupAPT40 linked to theHainan State Security Department.[20][21] Analysts believe that the hackers were interested in military technologies such as firing antiship missiles from a submarine underwater, undersea acoustic communications, and raw data of projects sponsored by the U.S. government.[20]
In September 2023, the Chinese government launched an onlinedisinformation operation targeting Hawaiian locals, attempting to convince them that a secret U.S. government "weather weapon" had sparked the2023 wildfires inLahaina.[22]
In 2023Volt Typhoon, anadvanced persistent threat attributed to China'sPeople's Liberation Army Cyberspace Force,[23] reportedly penetrated the systems of a Hawaiian water utility company.[24] Analysts have stated that such cyberattacks against critical infrastructure can facilitate futuresabotage in the event of a military conflict between China and the U.S. in the Western Pacific.[24]
Recorded Future first reported that the Chinese government mounted a covert campaign to blame a "weather weapon" for the fires, identifying numerous posts in mid-August falsely claiming that MI6, the British foreign intelligence service, had revealed "the amazing truth behind the wildfire." Posts with the exact language appeared on social media sites across the internet, including Pinterest, Tumblr, Medium and Pixiv, a Japanese site used by artists.
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