Two US sailors arrested on suspicion of spying for China

Sailors at Point Loma Naval Base, San Diego (California, USA)

Two US sailors face charges of selling classified information to Beijing, including manuals for warships and shipboard weapons systems, as well as blueprints for a radar system and plans for a large-scale US military exercise in the Indo-Pacific.

AFP news agency on August 4 quoted FBI Counterintelligence official Suzanne Turner as saying that arrests like this show that China is trying to collude with US military personnel to obtain sensitive military information that could cause serious damage to US national security.

In a press release, the US Department of Justice said that sailor Jinchao Wei, assigned to the USS Essex amphibious assault ship in San Diego, California, transferred dozens of documents, images and video clips recording the activities of ships and systems on board to Chinese spies.

Wei, 22, also provided technical and mechanical manuals for the USS Essex’s weapons systems. The Chinese side was reportedly paid tens of thousands of dollars in exchange for the information. Wei faces life in prison if convicted.

In another case, the US Justice Department said that Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, 26, spied for China for nearly two years while on assignment at the Ventura County Naval Base, north of Los Angeles (California).

According to prosecutors, Zhao received nearly $15,000 from a Chinese spy to provide information about large-scale military exercises conducted by the United States in the Indo- Pacific region, including details about the timing and location of amphibious landing exercises.

Zhao is also suspected of giving Chinese spies electrical schematics and blueprints of a radar system at a US base in southern Japan.

If convicted, Zhao faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

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