The Israel Security Agency is investigating suspicions that a thermal cup sent as a gift by the Chinese embassy in Israel to the bureau of Orit Farkash-Hacohen, Israel’s minister of innovation, science and technology, contained an eavesdropping device, Army Radio reported on Tuesday.

The cup “is being examined by security agencies,” the report said, adding that the suspicious gift did not reach Farkash-Hacohen, but was taken for examination after being flagged by government security officers.

“Following the incident, security elements reiterated to government ministries the issue of receiving gifts from foreign sources, which require an examination,” the report said.

Government ministries were instructed not to bring such gifts into offices, but rather to send them to security officers first.

Concerns over worldwide Chinese state espionage activities have grown in recent years in Western countries.

On April 7, the United States Department of Justice announced that an American court had sentenced a Chinese national residing in Missouri to 29 months in prison for conspiring to commit economic espionage on behalf of the People’s Republic of China.

On August 21, Sky News reported that a cyber-espionage group from China “masqueraded as Iranian hackers while breaking into and spying on Israeli government institutions,” citing a report from security company FireEye, which it said had unmasked the group together with Israeli defense agencies.