The Chinese communist regime is attempting to tighten control over radio communication equipment after years of suppressing internet freedom.
The Chinese regime’s Ministry of State Security posted a message on its official WeChat account on March 23, warning of the alleged threat posed by radio waves, which can carry and spread a large amount of information.
The notice accused some radio enthusiasts of regarding foreign radio equipment as “novel toys” and purchasing them illegally, posing a so-called threat to national security. It emphasized “guarding against cross-border radio undercurrents” and preventing their illegal use.
The ministry highlighted two cases of “stealing information” through radio equipment. The first, a radio enthusiast surnamed Zheng, was punished for setting up suspicious equipment near a military port in the country and “continuously collecting sensitive signals.” The other, surnamed Zhang, privately built a radio station and was arrested for “accepting orders from foreign forces to spread false information.”
Analysts say the latest move shows that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is afraid of the impact of radio communication and that its attempt to control radio waves won’t be effective.
Shen Ming Shih, director of the Division of National Security Research at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times that radio is the only area left that is difficult for the CCP to control, since it has been using various control measures to censor content on the internet.
Shen explained that there are two types of radio stations: regional and short-range, which can only be heard by monitoring short radio waves. The other type is long-distance, which is transmitted through longer wavelengths.
“Especially for long distances, it can be transmitted internationally,” he said. “To prevent any leak of important information or the flow of information between citizens, the CCP regards it as a channel that is poorly controlled. The CCP now emphasizes the prevention of radio communication in the notice, this is the main factor.”
Also, Shen said that he believes that the Chinese Ministry of State Security’s warning against the use of radio communication equipment shows that “the CCP is now in a state of panic.”
“The CCP is afraid that people will communicate with each other through the radio and then take joint actions [against the regime],” he said. “It is also afraid that people will use the radio devices to send out important information of the CCP, which can be used by foreign countries to determine the actual national strength or military dynamics of the CCP.”
The key issue of the ministry’s notice is about freedom of speech, Su Tzu-yun, researcher and director of the Division of Defense Strategy and Resources at Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, told The Epoch Times.
“If people send signals through radio communication equipment, the Ministry of National Security can monitor them, but if people install receiving antennas to only receive signals, the authorities cannot detect them.
“Therefore, if mainland Chinese people set up receiving antennas, they can receive signals from the outside world, such as the Voice of Hope, Taiwan, or foreign broadcasts, and get social information suppressed by the CCP, which can let more people inside the CCP understand the situation.”
Shen said the radio equipment can even collect radio signals from the CCP’s military or public security stations and then decrypt them.
Li Yuanhua, an Australia-based China historian and former associate professor at Capital Normal University in Beijing, told The Epoch Times that the CCP is afraid that people will learn the truth through radio communication, “because the CCP has already planned to cut off the internet when necessary, but everyone can tap into radio waves.”
“You don’t need to break the internet blockage but just listen to it with a simple receiving device,” Li said.
