Two US Navy Sailors Charged With Spying for China

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Facts

  • Two US Navy personnel have been arrested in California on charges of allegedly passing sensitive military information to China, prosecutors said Thursday.1
  • China-born Jinchao Wei, 22, a machinist's mate aboard the USS Essex, is accused of handing over technical documents, photographs, and video footage of weapons systems and other "critical technology" used aboard the ships to a Chinese intelligence officer.2
  • Wei, who faces four charges — including one under the rarely used Espionage Act — served in the Navy since July 2021 and allegedly began spying for China when he applied to become a naturalized US citizen.3
  • In a separate case, Wenheng Zhao, 26, was arrested and indicted on charges of passing sensitive US military information — including operational plans for a large-scale Indo-Pacific US military exercise — to a Chinese intelligence officer posing as a maritime economic researcher.4
  • Zhao, who served in the US Navy since 2017, is also accused of receiving nearly $15K over a two-year period for providing blueprints for a radar system stationed on a US military base in Okinawa to China.3
  • Both sailors had their first court hearings on Thursday and are set to appear in court again next week. If convicted, Wei faces 20 years to life in prison, and Zhao a maximum sentence of 20 years.5

Sources: 1BBC News, 2Al Jazeera, 3Wall Street Journal, 4CNN, and 5ABC News.

Narratives

  • Anti-China narrative, as provided by CNN. These two American sailors violated their commitments to protect the US and abused the public trust to the PRC's advantage. However, most critically, their arrest reflects the PRC's reckless efforts to harm the US as the defender of the free world and to subvert its laws by tapping sensitive military information. The two cases must be rigorously investigated to defend the US against China as the leading threat to its national security.
  • Pro-China narrative, as provided by Global Times. The incident is just the latest example of how Washington is constantly hyping cases of Chinese "espionage." The PRC is portrayed as a national security threat while US intelligence agencies boast about rebuilding their spy networks in China. The US is waging a smear campaign against China's counterintelligence, yet it can't hide that it's a world leader in infiltrating other countries, while mass surveillance of US citizens is widespread and extensive.

Predictions