Justice Department says 2 Chinese nationals charged with spying inside the US for Beijing
WASHINGTON AP Two Chinese nationals have been charged with spying inside the United States on behalf of Beijing including by taking photographs of a naval base coordinating a cash dead-drop and by participating in efforts to recruit members of the military who they thought might be open to working for Chinese intelligence The affair filed in federal court in San Francisco and unsealed Monday is the latest Justice Department prosecution to target what agents say are proceeding efforts by the Chinese governing body to secretly collect intelligence about American military capabilities a practice laid bare in startling fashion two years ago with China s launching of a surveillance balloon that U S functionaries ultimately shot down over the coast of South Carolina This situation underscores the Chinese governing body s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national precaution from within Attorney General Pam Bondi commented in a message announcing the development The Justice Department will not stand by while hostile nations embed spies in our country we will expose foreign operatives hold their agents to account and protect the American people from covert threats to our national assurance Executives identified the defendants as Yuance Chen who arrived in the U S on a visa in and later became a lawful permanent resident and Liren Ryan Lai who prosecutors say lives in China but came to Texas this past spring as part of an effort to supervise clandestine espionage operations on behalf of China s Ministry of State Assurance or MSS The two were arrested on charges of secretly doing China s bidding without registering as foreign agents with the Justice Department as required by law It was not at once clear if they had lawyers A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington did not instantly return a message seeking comment Tuesday According to an FBI affidavit filed in connection with the circumstance investigators believe Lai had been evolving Chen to be a Chinese intelligence asset since at least mid- Their programs the FBI says included coordinating on a dead-drop of at least in cash to another person operating at the direction of the MSS They also conducted surveillance of a Navy recruiting station in California and Navy base in Washington state including through photographs and videos that investigators believe were sent to Chinese intelligence Government say Lai and Chen also discussed recruiting Navy employees to work for China with Chen obtaining during a tour of a Navy installation photographs of names and hometowns of new recruits Numerous listed China as their hometown and investigators believe the information was sent to China the FBI affidavit says The occurrence is one in a series of prosecutions concerning Chinese intelligence-gathering including concerning the military Last year for instance the Justice Department charged five Chinese nationals with lying and trying to cover their tracks more than a year after they were confronted in the dark near a remote Michigan military site where thousands of people had gathered for summer drills And in two Navy sailors were charged with providing sensitive military information to China including details on wartime exercises naval operations and critical technical material Source
