US Navy serviceman jailed for spying for China
A US Navy serviceman who passed on sensitive military information to a Chinese spy has been sentenced to more than two years in jail and a $5,500 fine.
The Department of Justice (‘DOJ’) said Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao pleaded guilty in October to one count of conspiring with the intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe. He was sentenced to 27 months in prison.
Commenting on the case, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning referred to claims last year by the Central Intelligence Agency (‘CIA’) that it was rebuilding its spy networks in China.
‘The US on the one hand keeps spreading disinformation on so-called “Chinese spying”, and on the other hand tells the public about its large-scale intelligence activities targeting China. This in itself is quite revealing. China will take all measures necessary to safeguard national security,’ she said at a news conference, 9 January.
Zhao, who worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme and held a US security clearance ‘engaged in a corrupt scheme to collect and transmit sensitive U.S. military information to the intelligence officer,’ the DOJ said in a statement, 8 January.
Between August 2021 and at least May 2023, Zhao received some $15,000 in more than a dozen separate bribe payments in return for ‘sensitive, non-public information regarding U.S. Navy operational security, military trainings and exercises, and critical infrastructure,’ the DOJ said.
It said, ‘Zhao transmitted plans for a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific theatre, operational orders and electrical diagrams and blueprints for a Ground/Air Task Oriented Radar system located in Okinawa, Japan.’
