Two Chinese nationals charged by US for attempting to recruit service members
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Two Chinese nationals were charged with acting as agents of the Chinese government in efforts to recruit American service members.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – US prosecutors have charged two Chinese nationals with acting as agents of the Chinese government in efforts to recruit American service members, the Justice Department said on July 1.
Yuance Chen, 38, a legal permanent resident living in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, who travelled to Houston in April on a tourist visa, were arrested on June 27, the department said in a statement.
The pair made their initial appearances in federal court in Houston and Portland, Oregon, on June 30, it said.
The two worked on behalf of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS) to facilitate a “dead-drop payment” of US$10,000 (S$12,700) cash in exchange for information related to US national security, which was left in a locker at a recreational facility in Northern California in 2022, it said.
They “continued to work on behalf of the MSS, including to help identify potential assets for MSS recruitment within the ranks of the US Navy”, the Justice Department said.
“The Chinese Communist Party thought they were getting away with their scheme to operate on US soil, utilising spycraft, like dead drops, to pay their sources”, Federal Bureau of Investigation director Kash Patel said in a statement.
In a statement to Reuters, Chinese embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said he was not aware of the specific case but said the allegations were “assumptions and speculations”, accusing the US of hypocrisy in its global intelligence operations. REUTERS
