Chinese authorities are investigating a Canadian couple suspected of stealing state secrets about national defence and the military, state media say. In a brief report, Xinhua news agency named the suspects as Kevin and Julia Garratt.

The couple taught in southern China for several years and then moved to Dandong in 2008, where they opened Peter's Coffee House, the paper said.

According to its website, the coffee shop is "only meters from the border of North Korea and Dandong's Friendship Bridge" and is "the perfect stop off while en route to or returning from the Hermit Kingdom".