Two members of the United States Navy working in California are suspected of having transmitted sensitive information to China, announced Thursday August 3 the Department of Justice.
Photos, videos and documents containing critical data on the organization of the American army would have been transmitted by these soldiers to members of the Chinese services.
“These arrests remind us of the relentless and aggressive efforts of the People’s Republic of China to undermine our democracy and threaten those who defend it,” FBI Deputy Director of Counterintelligence Suzanne Turner said in the statement. communicated.
The information transmitted is “likely to seriously compromise the national security of the United States”, she insisted.
Heavy penalties incurred
The first suspect, Jinchao Wei, was arrested on Wednesday at Naval Base San Diego, where he worked. He was a machinist on the assault ship U.S.S. Essex and is suspected of having collaborated with a Chinese agent since February 2022, to provide him with information concerning the operation, security and armament of this amphibious vessel.
The 22-year-old soldier received several thousand dollars in exchange for this sensitive information, which he sent via encrypted communications, according to the prosecution. He faces a life sentence.
The second sailor charged, Wenheng Zhao, worked at Naval Station Ventura County, north of Los Angeles. The 26-year-old soldier is suspected of having transmitted sensitive information to a Chinese spy posing as a researcher in the field of maritime economics, between August 2021 and May 2023.
The spy would have given him nearly 14,866 dollars, in return for detailed information on a large-scale US Navy exercise in the Asia-Pacific region, and against electrical diagrams and plans for a radar system installed on a base. from the island of Okinawa, Japan. If convicted, the soldier faces up to 20 years in prison, according to the prosecution.
The United States and China are engaged in fierce competition but are trying to renew dialogue after months of tension. Washington thus indicated on Tuesday that the head of Chinese diplomacy Wang Yi was invited to go to the United States for high-level meetings.
In the summer of 2022, the visit to Taiwan by former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, aroused the ire of Beijing and fueled tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, the scene of rivalries between the two giants. .
