WASHINGTON – Two Chinese nationals have been charged with spying for Beijing within the United States, including photographing a U.S. naval base, coordinating a $10,000 cash dead-drop, and attempting to recruit members of the American military to work for Chinese intelligence.
The federal case, unsealed Monday in San Francisco, is the latest in a series of prosecutions that the Justice Department says highlight China’s ongoing efforts to secretly gather intelligence on U.S. military capabilities. It follows other alarming incidents, such as the 2023 Chinese surveillance balloon incident, which dramatically exposed Beijing’s covert surveillance tactics.
“This case underscores the Chinese government’s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.
“The Justice Department will not stand by while hostile nations embed spies in our country – we will expose foreign operatives, hold their agents to account, and protect the American people from covert threats to our national security.”
The Accused:
- Yuance Chen, 38, entered the U.S. on a visa in 2015 and became a lawful permanent resident.
- Liren “Ryan” Lai, 39, is believed to reside in China but visited Texas earlier this year to coordinate espionage activities on behalf of the Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS), according to prosecutors.
Both men face charges of acting secretly on behalf of China without registering as foreign agents, a violation of U.S. law. It is currently unclear if either has retained legal representation.
Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu responded to the allegations by saying, “The U.S. has never stopped its espionage activities against China,” and denied the charges, calling them baseless.
Surveillance and Recruitment Efforts
According to an FBI affidavit, Lai had been cultivating Chen as an intelligence asset since at least mid-2021. Their operations included:
- Surveillance of a Navy recruiting station in California and a Navy base in Washington state, with Chen allegedly photographing sensitive locations and passing the images to Chinese intelligence.
- Coordination of a dead-drop of $10,000 in cash to another individual working at the MSS’s direction.
- Gathering names, hometowns, and program details of newly recruited Navy personnel. Some of those listed had ties to China, which investigators believe was relevant to their recruitment strategy.
In one communication, Chen reportedly shared personal background details of a Navy employee, noting:
“I found out. His mother is Chinese. His father and mother did not get along and the mother was given custody when he was 8 years old. That is why he uses his mother’s last name.”
This exchange was allegedly part of a broader attempt to assess potential vulnerabilities that could be exploited for recruitment into Chinese intelligence operations.
Ongoing Threats
Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg, who leads the Justice Department’s National Security Division, emphasized the long-term strategy used by foreign intelligence services like China’s MSS:
“Adverse foreign intelligence services like the PRC’s Ministry of State Security dedicate years to recruiting individuals and cultivating them as intelligence assets to do their bidding within the United States.”
This latest case follows a 2023 incident in which two U.S. Navy sailors were charged with leaking sensitive information to China, including details about wartime operations and classified technical materials.
U.S. officials say these prosecutions are part of a broader push to expose and counteract foreign intelligence operations that threaten national security from within.