Summary
- China’s Ministry of State Security urges passengers to keep window shades closed during takeoff and landing for national security.
- About one-third of Chinese airports have military operations and want to prevent passengers from photographing sensitive facilities.
- Violating this rule can lead to detainment or jail time, as seen in recent incidents involving passengers taking unauthorized photos.
China’s Ministry of State Security has issued a warning to air passengers to keep their window shades closed during takeoff and landing to maintain national security. This rule applies to roughly one-third of China’s airports, which are used for both civil and military operations.
China issues espionage warning to passengers
As first reported by the South China Morning Post, the Ministry of State Security (MSS) issued the warning following a number of incidents involving passengers photographing or filming military facilities while on commercial flights. In an article posted to its official WeChat profile, the ministry urged passengers to adhere to instructions to close their window shades while their flight is taking off, landing, or taxiing at a civil-military airport, and to refrain from taking photos or videos and uploading them online. The ministry said,
“[Passengers] must not take unauthorized photos or videos, or upload the content online. Safeguarding national security is the responsibility and duty of every citizen. Unauthorized filming of military facilities and equipment poses a serious threat to national security.”
Photo:Â BigTunaOnline | Shutterstock
Around a third of Chinese airports in commercial use also house military forces, and the country does not want potentially sensitive military information to be leaked online. The ministry added that many of these airports are located in coastal and border regions of strategic significance. As China’s top anti-espionage agency, the MSS has been active on social media in the past couple of years to encourage citizens to remain vigilant about spying – most recently, it issued a warning to drone operators about flying around sensitive military installations.
This directive to keep window shades closed goes against the policy of most airports and airlines globally, which usually requires passengers to keep shades open during takeoff and landing for safety reasons.
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National security incidents
Earlier this month, a foreign national is said to have taken pictures of an airport during a flight between Yiwu and Beijing before being reported by a fellow passenger. Prior to that, a passenger named Liu recorded videos of a military installation at an unnamed southeastern coastal airport, an act which forced the flight to divert and return to its departure airport. The aircraft was allowed to take off again only after authorities deemed there was no national security threat.
Photo: China Eastern
While the passenger was said to have taken the photos to “show off” to his friends online, he would later be placed under detention for seven days for “disrupting the order of public transport.” There was also a notable incident in 2021 which saw a Chinese man given a suspended jail sentence after using a drone to capture images of a naval base. On that occasion, the man took high-definition pictures of a new Chinese warship with the intention of bragging about it on an online military technology forum.
Have you ever flown from a civil-military airport in China? Were you told to keep your window shades closed? Let us know in the comment section.