By Associated Press’s Eric Tucker
Washington (AP) Two Chinese nationals have been accused of spying inside the United States for Beijing. They are accused of taking pictures of a naval base, organizing a cash drop, and taking part in attempts to enlist military personnel they believed would be willing to work for Chinese intelligence.
The case, which was unsealed Monday and filed in federal court in San Francisco, is the most recent Justice Department prosecution to focus on what officials say are Chinese government efforts to gather intelligence about American military capabilities in secret. This practice was exposed in a shocking way two years ago when China launched a surveillance balloon over the South Carolina coast that was eventually shot down by U.S. officials.
In a statement announcing the charge, Attorney General Pam Bondi said, “This case highlights the Chinese government’s persistent and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within.” The Justice Department will uncover foreign operators, hold their agents accountable, and defend the American people from hidden dangers to our national security. We will not tolerate hostile nations placing spies in our nation.
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The defendants were identified by officials as Liren Ryan Lai, 39, who prosecutors claim resides in China but traveled to Texas this past spring in an attempt to oversee covert espionage operations on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security, or MSS, and Yuance Chen, 38, who entered the country on a visa in 2015 and subsequently became a lawful permanent resident.
The two were detained on suspicion of clandestinely carrying out China’s orders without legally registering as foreign agents with the Justice Department. Whether they had attorneys or not was not immediately apparent. A message seeking response Tuesday was not immediately answered by a representative of the Chinese embassy in Washington.
Investigators suspect Lai has been cultivating Chen as a Chinese intelligence asset since at least mid-2021, according to an FBI affidavit filed in connection with the case.
According to the FBI, one of their actions was planning a cash dead-drop of at least $10,000 to someone else working under the MSS’s supervision. They also used photos and videos that investigators think were provided to Chinese intelligence to spy on a Navy installation in Washington state and a Navy recruiting station in California.
According to the authorities, Lai and Chen also talked about enlisting Navy personnel to work for China. Chen reportedly took pictures of the names and hometowns of new recruits while on a tour of a Navy base. According to the FBI affidavit, investigators suspect the information was transported to China because several people named China as their hometown.
The case is one of several prosecutions involving Chinese intelligence collection, including military-related ones.
For example, more than a year after five Chinese nationals were questioned in the dark close to a remote military location in Michigan where thousands of people had gathered for summer training, the Justice Department accused them last year with lying and attempting to hide their tracks.
Additionally, two Navy sailors were accused in 2023 of giving China classified military secrets, including as specifics on naval operations, warfare drills, and vital technical data.
