SAN DIEGO (CN) — Two U.S. Navy sailors are set to appear in federal court in Southern California today to face charges that they spied for China in exchange for a couple thousand dollars.
The indictments, which were unsealed Thursday morning, claim that Jinchao Wei and Wenheng Zhao, both naturalized U.S. citizens, sent pictures of military plans, manuals of equipment and amphibious assault ships, and other national defense information, to intelligence officers working for the Chinese government.
Wei, a machinist's mate on the U.S.S. Essex, an amphibious assault ship stationed in San Diego, was arrested yesterday when he arrived to work at Naval Base San Diego.
Zhao, also known as Thomas Zhao, worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme.
While announcing the charges at a press conference Thursday in downtown San Diego, officials from the U.S. Attorney’s office did not clarify whether both Zhao and Wei were working together nor if they reported to the same Chinese intelligence officer.
“We have entrusted members of our military with tremendous responsibility and great faith. Our nation's safety and security is in their hands," said Randy Grossman, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California. "When a soldier or sailor chooses cash over country and hands over national defense information in an ultimate act of betrayal, we have to be ready to act, and that’s exactly what we’ve done."
The government claims that beginning in February of last year while his citizenship was being processed, Wei began talking with a Chinese intelligence official who asked that he send pictures, videos, and documents about Navy ships and amphibious assault ships, including their location and their vulnerabilities. The manuals Wei sent contained information about the U.S.S. Essex, and informational about an upcoming international warfare exercise.
For the information, Wei was allegedly paid a couple thousand dollars.
“The unauthorized disclosure of this national defense information could place the national security of the United States and the safety of Wei’s fellow Navy sailors in jeopardy,” Grossman said, adding that because San Diego is the home base for the Navy’s Pacific fleet, the claims against Wei are “personal for San Diego, and we will not stand for it.”
Zhao is accused of sending China details since 2021 of military exercises in the Indo-Pacific region, including the location and movement of Naval forces, and that he photographed diagrams and blueprints for a radar system on the U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan. He also allegedly he took photographs and videos of naval bases in Ventura County and on San Clemente Island.
For this, Zhao was paid a little less than $15,000 by his Chinese handler, prosecutors say.
“There is no bigger, multigenerational threat to the United States than from the government of the People’s Republic of China, the PRC, and the Chinese Communist Party. These cases highlight the enduring and egregious means by which the PRC will stop at nothing to attack the United States in their strategic plans to be the sole world super power for a campaign of ripping off, replicating, and replacing.” said Stacey Moy, the FBI special agent in charge of the San Diego field office, at the press conference on Thursday. “The PRC specifically targets members of our military community seeking access to our most sensitive military technologies and war fighting capabilities to their own advantage.”
Zhao was arrested on Wednesday and is facing charges of conspiracy and receipt of a bribe by a public official in the U.S. District Court Central District of California.
Wei is facing four different espionage charges in the U.S. District Court Southern District of California in San Diego, two of which have a maximum penalty of life in prison.
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