On the 1st, the U.S. Department of Justice stated that U.S. prosecutors have charged two Chinese citizens with acting as agents for Chinese security authorities, accusing them of gathering intelligence about U.S. naval bases and attempting to identify Navy members willing to conduct espionage activities for Beijing.
According to foreign media reports, the U.S. Department of Justice said that, in 2022, these suspects facilitated at least $10,000 (41,900 ringgit) in "secret payments" in a locker at an entertainment venue in Northern California, in exchange for U.S. national security information that had already been delivered to Chinese intelligence authorities.
The Department stated in its announcement that the two suspects were arrested on June 27. One is Chen Yuanze (transliteration), a lawful permanent resident living in Happy Valley, Oregon; the other is Lai Liren (transliteration), who arrived in Houston from China on a tourist visa in April of this year.
According to reports, these two individuals worked for China’s Ministry of State Security and made their initial court appearances on June 30 in federal courts in Houston and Portland, Oregon.
The U.S. Department of Justice did not disclose who provided the U.S. national security information or which military personnel were identified as recruitment targets.
The Department said that after the 2022 incident, both continued to work for the Ministry of State Security, including searching within the U.S. Navy for potential personnel that could be recruited by the Ministry.
Liu Pengyu, spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the U.S., made a statement to foreign media, saying he was not aware of the specific case, but emphasized that these allegations are “presumptions and speculation,” and accused the U.S. of hypocrisy in its global intelligence operations.