Two spies jailed for selling Chinese military secrets overseas

Two men have been jailed in northern China for taking photographs of military projects and equipment and selling them overseas, according to a state-run newspaper report.

The men separately provided hundreds of photographs to their foreign contacts, the Dalian Daily reported, without saying who bought the infor mation.

The National Security Agency in Dalian, Liaoning province, arrested the men last year and accused them of leaking state secrets, the report said.

Liaoning is a defence manufacturing centre in China and home to many military research and construction projects, including fighter aircraft, missile destroyers, nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers.

One of the men, described only by his family name Han, was approached on social media last March by a foreigner who claimed to be a journalist.

The 30-year-old was asked to take photos of work near a military project, for which he was paid 11,600 yuan (HK$14,500).

The man entered restricted zones and took pictures with his phone and sent them abroad on the internet. He was also told to attend a conference on defence technology programmes in Beijing in July and record meetings and take photographs.