Amid Pokemon Go's surging popularity across the globe since its limited release just a week ago, an increasing number of Chinese conspiracy theorists view Nintendo's colorful monsters a ploy by American and Japanese governments to discover China's hidden military bases.

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"Don't play Pokemon GO!!!" a user named Pitaorenzhe posted on China's Twitter-like Weibo. "It's so the U.S. and Japan can explore China's secret bases!"

According to these theorists, Pokemon Go, which is a reality game that finds your location and allows you to stroll around real-life neighborhoods to hunt and catch a virtual magical beasts, enables its players to deduce uncharted military installations.

Pokemon Go developer Niantic could reportedly place rare Pokemon in areas that people do not go. Thus, if a rare Pokemon shows up and nobody captures it, it can infer that the character is sitting in a top secret location, Geek.com reported.

"Then, when war breaks out, Japan and the U.S. can easily target their guided missiles, and China will have been destroyed by the invasion of a Japanese-American game," another Weibo post pointed.

Gizmodo noted that it is unlikely for Pokemon Go to see a release in the mainland since it uses Google Maps and Ingress (another augmented reality game from Niantic), which are blocked in China.

Meanwhile, Lu Kang, Chinese Foreign Ministry, said he is unaware of reports that the mobile game could potentially pose a security risk and that he has not had the time to explore and play the game. 

TagsPokemon Go, china, Nintendo, Google map, Ingress, Niantic