China’s spy ministry raises alert over foreign NGO theft of ‘environmental data.’ China has accused foreign-funded environmental NGOs of engaging in activities that potentially threaten national security by collecting sensitive oceanic data along China's coasts. This issue has raised alarms within China's Ministry of State Security, particularly as some NGO activities occurred near military facilities. The NGOs, involved under the guise of marine conservation, have been alleged to support foreign agendas and provide data that could be used by foreign powers.