US jails Chinese nationals in spying case involving military recruitment

Recruitment and cash payments

Lai and Chen admitted to trying to enlist US military service members to provide information to Beijing. They also sought to arrange cash exchanges for information connected to US national security. Court documents say the pair began working as agents of China’s Ministry of State Security no later than May 2021. In May 2022, they arranged for $10,000 from China to be left at a designated place for another person to collect, a method known as a “dead drop.”

Information about military targets

The men also gathered other material, including photographs of a naval facility, military recruits and active-duty sailors. Chen obtained personal information about a US Navy employee and kept detailed biographies of military personnel considered possible intelligence targets.

The account says the payments facilitated by Lai and Chen were worth at least $30,000. The Justice Department did not specify how many payment arrangements they made or how many people they successfully recruited in the United States.

Separate Myanmar reference

The account also mentions scholar Min Zin, who previously wrote opinion pieces on Myanmar politics. Those pieces criticized both the military government and the opposition groups it is fighting.