‘Unprecedented’: US sailors charged with selling military secrets to China
By Peter Martin and Chris Strohm
Washington: Two US Navy sailors have been arrested on charges of providing sensitive US military information to China in exchange for money in what the Justice Department called a relentless effort by China to get US secrets.
Jinchao Wei was the first person ever charged with espionage in the San Diego district, US Justice Department officials said at a press conference. Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California, was charged with conspiracy and receipt of a bribe by a public official in Los Angeles.
The FBI has begun investigating more cases of state-directed coercion in the US.Credit: Bloomberg
Both men are Chinese-born naturalised US citizens.
Wei, a 22-year-old sailor assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex, was arrested on Wednesday while boarding the ship. He is accused of passing detailed information on the weapons systems and aircraft aboard the Essex and other amphibious assault ships that act as small aircraft carriers.
Prosecutors said Wei, who was born in China, was approached by a Chinese intelligence officer in February 2022 while he was applying to become a naturalised US citizen, and admitted to the officer that he knew the arrangement could affect his application. Even so, at the officer’s request, Wei provided photographs and videos of Navy ships, including the USS Essex, which can carry an array of helicopters, including the MV-22 Ospreys, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.
The indictment alleges Wei included as many as 50 manuals containing technical and mechanical data about Navy ships as well as details about the number and training of Marines during an upcoming exercise.
Assistant US Attorney Fred Sheppard said Wei has made $US10,000 to $US15,000 in the past year from the arrangement with the unnamed Chinese intelligence officer. If convicted, he could face up to life in prison.
Zhao, 26, based at Naval Base Ventura County, north of San Diego, with conspiring to collect nearly $US15,000 in bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for US naval exercise plans, operational orders and photos and videos of electrical systems at Navy facilities between August 2021 through at least this May.
The information included operational plans for a large-scale US military exercise in the Indo-Pacific region, which detailed the location and timing of naval force movements. If convicted, Zhao could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison.
“The charges demonstrate the PRC’s determination to obtain information that is critical to our national defence by any means so it can be used to their advantage,” Matthew Olsen, head of the Justice Department’s national security division, told reporters on Thursday during a press conference in San Diego, using the People’s Republic of China’s abbreviation.
Both men pleaded not guilty. They were ordered to be held until their detention hearings, which will take place on August 8.
US officials have for years expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, bringing criminal cases in recent years against Beijing intelligence operatives who have stolen sensitive government and commercial information, including through illegal hacking.
Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, said he wasn’t aware of the details of the case, but cautioned about jumping to conclusions.
“In recent years, the US government and media have frequently hyped up cases of ‘espionage’ related to China, many of which later proved to be unfounded,” Liu said in a statement. “China firmly opposes the US side’s groundless slander and smear of China.”
Michael Casey, the Biden administration’s pick to lead counter-intelligence efforts, said the US faced “unprecedented” threats from China, Russia and other foreign actors during a Senate confirmation hearing in July.
“China, among all such nations, stands apart in terms of the threat that its government poses to the United States,” Olsen said.
Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray said last year that the FBI opens a new counter-intelligence case against China every 12 hours on average. China’s Foreign Ministry routinely denies US allegations of state-sponsored espionage.
Bloomberg, AP
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