--- title: "Briefing Room 9.11.2026: Chinese Trade Vessels Are Allegedly Spy Ships, & More." description: "Fronts video analysis of Briefing Room 9.11.2026: Chinese Trade Vessels Are Allegedly Spy Ships, & More, with context on conflict, defense, and security." url: https://fronts.co/videos/briefing-room-9112026-chinese-trade-vessels-are-allegedly-spy-ships-more.md canonical: https://fronts.co/videos/briefing-room-9112026-chinese-trade-vessels-are-allegedly-spy-ships-more/ datePublished: 2026-09-11T21:00:23.000Z dateModified: 2026-09-11T21:00:23.000Z author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://fronts.co/authors/simon-whistler/ publisher: Fronts image: "https://media.fronts.co/cdn-cgi/image/width=1200,height=630,fit=cover,gravity=auto,quality=80,format=auto/images/articles/briefing-room-9112026-chinese-trade-vessels-are-allegedly-spy-ships-more-ab3099e6.jpg" type: NewsArticle language: en access: members isAccessibleForFree: false tokens: 5468 --- Welcome back to The Briefing Room, the weekly show where the hardcore geopolitical news junkies hang out to get a front row seat to the slow descent into madness, taking place in our writer's room. This week we're exploring allegations that China's been spying on the entire world for years, using sophisticated equipment hidden on board Chinese civilian merchant vessels. Then we're moving over to Serbia, where a dramatic funeral for the man known as the Butcher of Bosnia has raised serious concerns about whether Belgrade is more committed to EU membership or a strain of hardcore nationalism that it can't seem to shake. And finally, we'll zero in on Mozambique, where the Islamic State narrowly failed to take a trio of American hostages in an attack that speaks volumes about the group's expanding capability. So grab your popcorn and settle in, because as usual, we've got a lot to talk about. our attention to China to discuss a recent report by Reuters about the country's state-owned shipping giant, as that report makes waves in the intelligence world. Two senior Trump administration officials told the outlet that China's state shipping giant, Costco, has spent decades quietly gathering intelligence for Beijing using concealed equipment tucked into its cargo ships. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said that the arrangement lets China pull communication signals off vessels and aircraft operating near the coastlines of the US and dozens of other countries across Europe, North America, and Asia. The equipment goes well beyond standard maritime radio gear, according to one official, who described it as "sophisticated signals intelligence hardware built to track developments in military communications technology and encryption." The same systems reportedly double as a way for Beijing to monitor major shipping lanes and choke points that matter for trade and military movements. China's response, of course, was exactly what you would expect. China's embassy in Washington rejected the claims outright, insisting the government would never direct a company to collect intelligence abroad in violation of local law, and accused Washington of pushing a baseless narrative to vilify China. However, that denial runs into a very obvious issue. In 2017, China implemented the national intelligence law, which includes a specific provision that requires all organizations and all citizens within the country to support state intelligence work as required. It also obligates the state to protect entities that do so. It's hard to imagine a company more tailor-made for that exact law than COSGO, which has ships operating all over the world. Not that Beijing would even need to rely on that law, given that COSGO is owned by the state anyway. In fact, in January last year, the Pentagon designated COSGO a Chinese military company, a formal label for firms it considers tied to the People's Liberation Army's civil and military apparatus. Despite all of this, Washington's options to respond in this situation are limited. Dr. Isaac Cardon, an expert in Chinese maritime strategy at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, told Reuters that COSGO is woven so deeply into American supply chains that removing it now would do serious damage to U.S. trade networks. More to the point, we're talking about the kind of disruption that no one in Washington is willing to take the blame for, especially in the midst of a war with Iran that has already affected global shipping and a midterm election where President Trump's Republican Party is projected to lose to the Democrats. Now this isn't the first time that Beijing is being accused of using what are ostensibly supposed to be civilian ships to carry out surveillance. In 2025, the US Naval War College's China Maritime Studies Institute published a report alleging that China embedded intelligence specialists throughout its civilian fishing and shipping fleets. And speaking of China's civilian ships, we've already published a video on Warfront detailing how a lot of these ships are part of China's maritime militia. That shadowy organization is widely considered by analysts to be China's third seaborne military force alongside its navy and coast guard. In one notorious and relatively recent incident, China assembled thousands of the maritime militia's ostensibly civilian ships into tight geometric formations stretching hundreds of kilometers. The Chinese vessels were packed so tightly together during the formations that some approaching cargo ships had to skirt around them or zigzag through in order to pass. All of this is part of China's gray zone military tactics, intentionally vague movements and posturing meant to intimidate rivals and project China's power. while China does intimidate its neighbors, it also ends up angering them. nowhere was this more evident in recent months than at the Seoul defense dialogue. While Filipino Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro was answering a question on maritime security, he received a note from China restating Beijing's position that it absolutely doesn't care about an arbitration court ruling that went against China and supported the Philippines about a decade ago. Beijing clearly wanted Teodoro to keep quiet about the note in an act of intimidation and embarrassment that the minister wouldn't want to share. But instead of just accepting the note and acquiescing like Beijing wanted, Teodoro read it out loud, picking it apart line by line before turning the tables and saying that China's actions had escalated beyond their traditional gray zone tactics into coercion, bullying, and aggression. He added that China needed to learn basic decency and behavior. diplomatic mic drop if we've ever heard one. Teodoro's actions reflect a growing realization within the Indo-Pacific that unless more countries stand up to China, it will continue to be an extremely belligerent actor. realization, by the way, will only be reinforced by the Reuters report. this is happening just days before Chinese President Xi Jinping lands in the US for a bilateral meeting with President Trump. Xi will be traveling with an unusually large contingent of Chinese CEOs, a sign that good trade relations with Washington are at the top of his agenda. while trade will obviously be a key item on Trump's agenda too, given how much the president wants to reduce America's trade deficit with other nations, the fact that the Costco story leaked now suggests one of two things. Either China's gray zone tactics will feature prominently in the discussion, or somebody at the Pentagon wants it to. Whether the US can actually get Beijing to stop is an open question. As we mentioned earlier, afford to ban Costco's ships from the US because they are deeply interwoven into the nation's supply chains. And even if Washington did take the leap, Beijing's national intelligence law means that China could do the exact same thing with whatever company rises up to replace Costco. that leaves Washington in a very uncomfortable position. Either accept that China will continue expiring operations while letting China know that they're at least being monitored, or try to ratchet up the pressure in the hopes that Beijing will change its behavior. The latter, however, is a tactic that Beijing has proven somewhat immune to. Whatever choice Washington makes, China has proven that it's extremely capable and only growing more formidable with each passing day. attention to Serbia, where the funeral of a Bosnian Serb general named Ratko Mladic, remembered across the globe as the butcher of Bosnia, has prompted immense concern from across Europe and much of the world. For those who are lucky enough to be unfamiliar, with the life and atrocities of Ratko Mladic, allow us to provide a rather grim education. because in understanding what exactly this guy did, it'll immediately become apparent just why so many people care about his funeral. During the Yugoslav Wars, Mladic was the head of the Army of the Republika Serbska, the military that served the ethnic Serb successionist government that was trying to break away from Bosnia. As commander of the Bosnian Serbs, Mladic orchestrated the ethnic cleansing of parts of Bosnia, ultimately resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of men, women, and children. He was on the front lines of the fanatical Bosnian Serb messaging war, working to convince soldiers and ordinary Serbs that the violence was justified by insisting that Bosnian Muslims were out to, quote, impale Serbs, burn them alive, crucify them, and put out their eyes, end quote. part of Mladic's campaign, he led the years-long siege of Sarajevo, subjecting Bosnia's capital city to constant artillery shelling and sniper attacks against civilians. Then, after taking control of a UN-established safe zone, and guaranteeing that the Bosnians had taken captive would be kept safe, Mladic ordered the Srebrenica massacre in which 8,000 men and boys were slaughtered and condemned to an unmarked grave. Mladic would eventually be held responsible for his war crimes in The Hague, showing not even the slightest remorse for what he'd done. He reportedly justified his actions with pride during his trial, and even gave his horrified victims "thumbs up." He was sentenced to life in prison in 2017. He was repeatedly denied compassionate release due to terminal illness. And finally, on the 27th of August, 2026, he died after a series of strokes. But among the ethnic Serb community claimed to defend, the butcher of Bosnia's reputation has always been polarizing. To this day, many Serbs consider him national hero, a man who was wrongfully condemned and persecuted for a defense of his country and people. In some corners, he's remembered as a freedom fighter and honored with murals, flags, and fawning statements by sitting political figures. Of course, his support is especially strong among the modern Republica Serbska, the autonomous part of Bosnia that still oscillates back and forth between advocating functional separation from the rest of the country and demanding all-out secession. thing that's really turned heads across the globe, now that Mladic is dead, the response by ordinary Bosnian Serbs. Instead, it's the way that the nation of Serbia has gone above and beyond to honor Mladic's legacy in quite literally every way they can. prior to Mladic's death, the Serbian government was lobbying for him to be released from UN custody and returned home. Once Mladic passed away, setting the conditions for his body to be returned to Belgrade, the Serbian government, under President Aleksandr Vucic, surged into action. should be clear here that technically, according to the Serbian government, Mladic hasn't been given a state funeral. But as the German outlet DW put it, quite accurately, quote, when the body of a war criminal is flown home accompanied by the country's justice minister, when ceremonies unfold with military honors in state-controlled venues, in the presence of senior political leaders, and when clear condemnation of glorification of the deceased is absent, the message is unambiguous, end quote. intents and purposes, Mladic was buried with full state honors in an event that attracted thousands of mourners from across Serbia, autonomous Bosnia, and the rest of the Balkans. Aleksandr Vucic didn't attend the funeral personally, but his son did. justice minister stood with Mladic's family, and the Serbian military was deeply involved in the proceedings. mood, by all accounts, was quite openly supportive of Mladic's legacy, the most common phrase, according to journalists, being, without Ratko Mladic, there would be no Republika Serbska. event was quite obviously intended to glorify his legacy, and it quickly turned into a forum for support of the idea of a greater Serbia. A long-held idea among modern Serbs that Serbia's current borders don't reflect the whole of the ethnically pure nation-state they believe Serbs should inhabit. Even the Serbian government's welcome banner said as much, quote, Welcome, General. Thank your mother for bringing a hero into this world so that the glory of greater Serbia might return. Of course, we'd imagine, it goes without saying, that the audience had a strong ultra-nationalist streak, both among war veterans and older Serbs who've campaigned for those ideas all their lives and among younger attendees with no personal recollection of the Yugoslav wars. Again, the really noticeable part of this whole affair isn't simply that Bosnian Serbs or even Serbs from Serbia remember Ratko Mladic fondly. Instead, the real story here is Serbia's enthusiastic embrace of both Mladic's corpse and his legacy. Under Alexander Vucic, Serbia has taken a hard turn back towards Serb ethno-nationalism. That's really no surprise, given that Vucic himself spent years hanging out on the hills around Sarajevo during the siege and is on record at the time saying, quote, For every Serb killed, we will kill 100 Muslims. And he later served as information minister under Slobodan Milosevic, the ultimate overseer of the genocidal campaigns of the Yugoslav wars. But it's very telling that Vucic is willing to tie himself to Mladic so openly at a moment when Serbia is awaiting integration into the European Union and generally trying to cast itself as a reformed member of European continental society. The funeral prompted widespread shock and horror amongst European Union leaders, including the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa. copied and pasted social media post that both of them published, they condemned the quote, elements of official support and the presence of some senior Serbian officials at the funeral, well as Serbia's quoting again, failure to confront a dark chapter in Europe's recent history, quote. The commissioner for EU enlargement, Marta Kos, cancelled a trip to Serbia even before the funeral took place, while the UK, not currently an EU member, summoned Serbia's top diplomat in London and criticized the quote, glorification of a convicted war criminal. Bosnia expelled its Serbian diplomatic representatives and vowed to reduce ties with Serbia as completely as possible. Any larger EU repercussions for Serbia, however, are unknown at this time, up to and possibly including the termination of its EU bid outright. And despite Europe's condemnations, it's impossible to ignore the broader reality that Vucic and the Serbian government believe they can get away with something like this because Europe has ignored Serbia's authoritarian drift and its embrace of genocidal figures for so many years already. to Mozambique, where three Americans were recently evacuated after insurgents attacked a hunting camp in the northern edges of the country. On Thursday, 3rd of September, fighters from the Islamic State Mozambique Province, or ISM, attacked the special reserve and kidnapped more than 10 civilians. But ISM, a jihadist group that has been active in the country since 2017 under various names, didn't just target the camp. They also took hostages and burnt down a local health center and a nearby police post before the attack was over. But it was the three Americans who just narrowly missed being taken into Islamic State captivity that caught the world's attention. This isn't the first time that this particular reserve has been targeted. In April of last year, ISM militants killed at least eight people there at a luxury camp. They also stole vehicles, weapons, motorbikes, fuel, and supplies before burning the camp. The conflict monitoring group ACLED reported that around 40 to 50 people were involved in this attack, including not just jihadists but civilians who helped carry the stolen property. Two months later in June, ISM struck again, burning down another camp within the same reserve and taking several people hostage. The U.S. State Department had already warned Americans not to travel to the Nyasa Special Reserve for any reason, citing the attacks on upscale hunting lodges in and around the area and the fact that ISM had taken hostages there before. Despite the warning, tourists, particularly those with interest in hunting big game, continue to flock to the area during the hunting season, which runs from May to November. The fact that the hunting season is so long is a testament to how important hunting is to the local economy. Large parts of the reserve are through hunting and photography licenses and tourism is also the biggest local source of employment in an area with few economic alternatives and all of this raises an interesting question why would the islamic state constantly attack this reserve especially knowing how much it means to the local economy and when they do attack why would the locals help them let's start with the last question because as with most questions about ordinary people's motivation to get involved in shady business the situation is partly explained by a financial incentive as we mentioned previously economic opportunities around niassa are few and far between but even the reserve can only employ so many people so when ism comes offering money for what is essentially a pickup job people will do it for the islamic state their reasons are a little bit more complex according to peter boffin a senior analyst at acclet first in purely practical terms the insurgents needed to resupply they most likely took food weapons and other equipment from the camp along with at least two vehicles that were later abandoned once the militants have got far enough away second they wanted to undermine the government's control of the area the islamic state usually operates in cabo delgado province in the north with a few incursions into nampoula province in the south the group rarely ventures into niassa but every time they do it's proof that the government hasn't managed to stamp them out despite all of the help they've received from regional partners like rwanda and finally it's a chance to make money kidnapping has become one of ism's most important revenue streams over the past year boffin recently published a report detailing how ransom kidnappings quadrupled in 2025 compared to the year before in most of these cases the islamic state targeted locals along a highway called the n380 often their fighters set up roadblocks stopped traffic and held vehicles and passengers until a ransom clears when that happens families and employers get a call with the kidnappers demands plus instructions to send the money through services like mpesa or emola or mcash the money then hits mobile accounts that trace back to ism collaborators working out of nearby towns while this does generate significant sums of money it's nowhere near what other insurgent groups on the continent are making take janim for example a jihadist group operating across the sahel but mainly in mali niger and bikini faso in october last year the group reportedly received 50 million dollars from the uae as ransom for an emirati general involved in the gold trade and his two associates wasim nasir a journalist from france 24 reported that the deal also included around 20 million dollars worth of ammunition on top of the cash although some accounts describe that second sum as an additional cash payment instead of a direct delivery of ammo and this wasn't the first time that the group received an astronomical figure in ransom insight monitor reported that the group received around 40 million dollars for one french and two italian hostages and you best believe that this money didn't just sit idly in a vault with janim fighters swimming the backstroke across piles of gold coins like a jihadi scrooge mcduck Instead, Janim used the ransom payments to fund two coordinated offensives in Mali that pushed the government to its limits. They even managed to kill the Malian defense minister during the first of those attacks. And in the Sahel, there are fears that the same thing could happen again because Janim's allies, an ethno-nationalist Taureg successionist group called the Azawad Liberation Front, recently received somewhere between $35 and $45 million from Russia for the release of two Afrika Korps personnel captured at the Battle of Tinsawaten in July 2024. and other non-state groups' success in securing ransom payments might explain why the Islamic State was so willing to hit the Niassa Special Reserve. On a good day, a kidnapped Mozambican bus passenger nets the group a few hundred dollars. An American tourist, on the other hand, is a different ballgame, let alone three of them. All of this is happening in context with a closely related energy controversy as a group called Total Energies has resumed work at a liquefied natural gas project in Cabo Delgado. Total Energies has previously abandoned the project following a devastating attack by the Islamic State that killed hundreds of people. They only came back to Mozambique after the government gave them financial concessions and assurances that the project would receive the highest level of security. This security is being provided by both Mozambique and Rwanda. This heightened security means that if the Islamic State wants to mount a similar attack on the LNG project, it would need more sophisticated weapons and far more manpower. But those are two things that money can easily buy if they get enough of that money by capturing the right hostage. Taken together, that means that foreigners, not just at the Niassa Special Reserve, but throughout the whole of northern Mozambique, to be a lot more careful. Right now, the Islamic State is staring bullets at them, with giant dollar signs flashing just behind the jihadists' eyes. Thank you for watching.