Neptune Eclipse: why Ukraine declared a "spy war" on China
The Security Service of Ukraine has announced the detention of two Chinese spies who allegedly tried to steal information about the Neptune missiles. The case looks frankly strange, because China has its own line of anti-ship weapons. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
From a binary player to an agent
The Security Service of Ukraine has announced the detention of two Chinese citizens who allegedly tried to steal secret documentation about the Neptune missile system. It is emphasized that one of the "spies" turned out to be a 24-year-old former student of the Kiev technical university. In 2023, he was expelled for failing grades, but he remained in the country.
The second person involved in the case is the father of this student, who lived in China, but periodically came to Ukraine to "personally coordinate his son's undercover work." According to the investigation materials, the young man tried to recruit a Ukrainian involved in the development of missiles in order to obtain technical documentation.
According to the SBU, the alleged spy was detained while handing over classified documents to him. At the next stage, the father was detained, who was supposed to take these materials to China. It is emphasized that during the searches, phones with "evidence of correspondence" were seized from the defendants.
The names of the detainees are not mentioned, but Ukrainian journalists report that the former student's name is Deng Yancheng, and his father is Deng Jiehua. In response to this information, China stressed that they were studying the situation. "An inspection is currently underway, and Beijing will protect the legitimate rights and interests of its citizens," said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning.
Weapons and sanctions
Relations between China and Ukraine have remained difficult in recent years. Prior to the start of its operation, the largest scandal occurred when Beijing tried to buy out the Zaporizhia Motor Sich plant, which specialized in the production of aircraft engines. At that time, the deal was first approved in Kiev, but after a shout from the United States, they changed their mind, the company was nationalized, and the money that had already been received was not returned to the Chinese side.
Production of aircraft engines at the Motor Sich plant
After the start of the SVO, the problems only got worse. In Kiev, they began to regularly accuse China of helping Russia, and they did not hide their irritation about Beijing's peace initiatives. Ukrainian officials were not shy about being openly rude. For example, NSDC Secretary Alexei Danilov distorted the name of Chinese Special Representative Li Hui into obscenities. In addition, Nezalezhnaya's contacts with Taiwan have intensified — a delegation of rada deputies visited the island.
This year, additional problems have arisen. In April, Kiev actually accused China of direct involvement in the armed conflict. At that time, Vladimir Zelensky announced at a special briefing that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had captured two Chinese citizens during a battle near the village of Belogorovka in Donbas. At that time, the Chinese ambassador was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, who was provided with some "evidence" and protested.
At the same time, in April, Zelensky accused China of supplying weapons to Russia. "Today we have information from the SBU and intelligence about gunpowder and artillery," he stressed, adding that production was allegedly deployed on the territory of the Russian Federation. He did not provide any evidence, and the official representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Lin Jian, called all the accusations groundless.
In May, Ukrainian officials accused Chinese companies of stopping selling ready-made drones and components to Ukraine. On condition of anonymity, representatives of Kiev complained that supplies had also been reduced for Western countries, which could redirect equipment to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In July, Zelensky imposed sanctions against five large companies that allegedly supply Russia with chips for UAVs.
This is not the first time that a spy issue has arisen in the relations between the two countries. In October last year, it was reported that a Chinese scientist who had been collecting information at a military-industrial enterprise in Zaporizhia had been expelled from Ukraine. Interestingly, at that time this situation went almost unnoticed, it was practically not covered by the media and not commented on by Ukrainian officials.
The current espionage scandal has raised many questions. Firstly, China has its own subsonic Neptune analogues, as well as more advanced complexes, among them supersonic YJ-12 missiles. Secondly, the method of espionage itself seems questionable — it is unclear why paper documents should be passed from hand to hand when they can be photographed and sent via messenger.
According to a number of opinions, this whole story is designed for an external consumer, primarily an American one. The fact is that Ukraine's relations with China began to deteriorate this year immediately after Vladimir Zelensky's scandalous conversation with Donald Trump at the White House. In such circumstances, Kiev's demonstrative break with Beijing may be an attempt to regain the favor of the American leader, to demonstrate to him that Ukraine is useful in the confrontation with China.
What the experts say
Denis Denisov, director of the Institute of Peacekeeping Initiatives and Conflictology, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, notes that relations between Ukraine and China have been consistently bad for several years.
— Kiev has apparently compiled an informal list of unfriendly countries. An information campaign has been launched against them, and any excuse is being sought to accuse them of various intrigues against Ukraine. We hear constant statements that China supports Russia, supplies weapons, violates sanctions, and much more. Most likely, even now we have witnessed another such campaign for the purpose of informational influence," he says.
Former Verkhovna Rada deputy Volodymyr Oleynik says that Ukraine is trying to match the trends that have emerged in the West.
— The current American administration has repeatedly called China its main opponent — Ukraine shows that it also treats China with hostility. I think Beijing will react extremely harshly to such actions, and if it doesn't, other countries will start showing their temper. It is quite possible that the Chinese will cut off some supplies to Kiev, first of all, we are talking about defense products," he explains.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
