(Updates to add a comment from a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington)
Two senior U.S. officials said COSCO Shipping (SHA:601919, HKG:1919) has equipped its vessels with concealed surveillance technology to intercept military communications near U.S. and allied coastlines for decades, Reuters reported Tuesday.
The unnamed officials said the alleged program gathers signal intelligence from ships and aircraft across Europe, North America and Asia to monitor encryption developments and track strategic shipping lanes, according to the report.
A spokesperson for China's embassy in Washington, in a response to' request for comment, dismissed the U.S. officials' claims, saying that "the Chinese government has never asked and will never ask any company or individual to collect or provide data, information or intelligence located abroad against local laws," and that the "intelligence collection" is totally baseless.
Meanwhile, COSCO did not immediately respond to' request for comment.
Shares of the shipping company were down around 3% Wednesday morning in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)