Three Japanese citizens have been fined 40,000 yuan (US$5,260) for illegal surveying activities in Shanghai and east China's Jiangxi Province, the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping (SBSM) announced on Tuesday.

A Japanese staffer with the Beijing agency of Japan-based Aisin AW Co. carried out GPS software tests in major avenues in Shanghai in March this year.

According to the SBSM, they had not obtained approval to carry out such mapping activities and their action violated Chinese law.

He was fined 20,000 yuan and the SBSM confiscated the survey equipment and results.

Also in March, two Japanese citizens conducted illegal mapping and surveying activities in Nanfeng, Yingtan, Shangrao and Qianshan in east China's Jiangxi Province under the guise of archeological research.

Noting that the survey targets included key military facilities and communications hubs, the SBSM imposed a fine of 20,000 yuan and confiscated the survey equipment and results.

The SBSM said in a notice that the number of foreigners conducting surveying and mapping in China is on the rise and many field projects have been carried out illegally, which is a threat to national security.

Earlier this year, the SBSM uncovered a similar case of illegal mapping in northwest Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region involving 4 Japanese citizens.

And in April last year, two Japanese scholars were fined 80,000 yuan (10,250 US dollars) and deported for mapping the coordinates of an airport and water facilities in Hotan of Xinjiang.

Statistics from the bureau showed there were 759 cases of illegal surveying and mapping in 2006, many of which involved foreign organizations and individuals.

According to a new regulation which came to effect on March 1 this year, foreign organizations and individuals who intend to engage in surveying and mapping must obtain approval from the central government and be supervised by local governments.