Chinese military warned not give away ‘secrets’ on social media

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Chinese military warned not give away ‘secrets’ on social media

China’s army newspaper says chat groups pose a threat to security

PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 05 May, 2015, 10:44am
UPDATED : Tuesday, 05 May, 2015, 6:47pm

Li Jing
[email protected]

The PLA Daily also warned soldiers' wives last month about the risks of using messing apps. Photo: Reuters

China’s military’s newspaper has warned officials to be cautious when using social networking apps to avoid leaking military secrets.

The PLA Daily said some retired soldiers have set up chat groups on WeChat, a popular messaging app, and that serving officers had joined the discussions.

These exchanges of information could easily lead to the leak of military secrets, the newspaper said.

Retired military officers were no longer under the control of the PLA and so it was difficult to directly supervise the chat groups, according to the newspaper.

“Military officers and soldiers should be cautious … to prevent some people with ulterior motives trapping military staff and acquiring secret information,” the article said.

The newspaper also urged the army to strengthen control of the use of social networking apps among serving military personnel.

The PLA Daily warned last month that the wives of soldiers could easily leak secrets on WeChat by sharing sensitive information about military drills and their husbands’ deployments.

It said spies could pose as soldiers’ wives to join chat groups and glean information.