As the mobile communication service WeChat becomes a must-have application on smartphones, the People's Liberation Army is urging wives of its service members to keep secrets from it.

Wives of officers at a brigade under the PLA ground force's 20th Group Army established a chat group to discuss how to take care of their husbands, but their talks often involve sensitive information such as the unit's drill operations and schedules, PLA Daily reported on Monday.

Some strangers were found seeking information about the brigade through the chat group, which has more than 50 members including officers, their wives and several vendors doing business near the battalions, the newspaper said.