Well, this is certain disappointing. Two servicemembers in the US Navy have been arrested and charged with passing information to China. One was based in San Diego and the other in Ventura. First up is Jinchao Wei:

A U.S. Navy sailor, Jinchao Wei, aka Patrick Wei, was arrested yesterday on espionage charges as he arrived for work at Naval Base San Diego, the homeport of the Pacific Fleet. He was indicted for conspiracy to send national defense information to an intelligence officer working for the People’s Republic of China.

The indictment, unsealed this morning, alleges that Wei, was an active-duty sailor on the amphibious assault ship the U.S.S. Essex stationed at Naval Base San Diego. In his role as a machinist’s mate, Wei held a U.S. security clearance and had access to sensitive national defense information about the ship’s weapons, propulsion and desalination systems…

According to the indictment, in February 2022, Wei began communicating with an intelligence officer from the PRC who requested that Wei provide information about the U.S.S. Essex and other Navy ships. Specifically, the Chinese intelligence officer tasked Wei with passing him photos, videos and documents concerning U.S. Navy ships and their systems. The two agreed to hide their communications by deleting records of their conversations and using encrypted methods of communication.

At the request of the intelligence officer, between March 2022 and the present, Wei sent photographs and videos of the Essex, disclosed the locations of various Navy ships and described defensive weapons of the Essex. In exchange for this information, the intelligence officer paid Wei thousands of dollars over the course of the conspiracy.

There are obviously a lot of things that the DOJ probably doesn’t want to say in this press release, including why China is so interested in photos, manuals and blueprints of US Navy amphibious assault ships. Here I think it’s worth remembering that this is what China does as a rule. It buys or steals technology it can’t create itself and then copies it. They stole the design for the C-17, the F-22 and the F-35 among others. They steal from Russian designs as well as the US.

But in this particular case it’s worrisome to think about why China wants plans for US amphibious assault ships. We all know Xi Jinping has vowed to reunify Taiwan by any means necessary. But China doesn’t have the amphibious assault capabilities to pull that off at the moment. Buying plans for US Navy ships is one way to upgrade their fleet.

The second person arrested was Wenheng Zhao:

A U.S. Navy servicemember, Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, aka Thomas Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California, was arrested following an indictment by a federal grand jury, charging him with receiving bribes in exchange for transmitting sensitive U.S. military information to an individual posing as a maritime economic researcher, but who was actually an intelligence officer from the PRC.

The indictment alleges that Zhao, who worked at Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme and held a U.S. security clearance, received bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for violating his official duties as a U.S. sailor by, among other actions, disclosing non-public sensitive U.S. military information.

Beginning in August 2021 and continuing through at least May 2023, at the Chinese intelligence officer’s direction, Zhao allegedly violated his official duties to protect sensitive military information by surreptitiously recording, and then transmitting to the intelligence officer, U.S. military information, photographs and videos. According to the indictment, the Chinese intelligence officer told Zhao that the intelligence officer was a maritime economic researcher seeking the information for investment decisions…

The indictment further alleges that in exchange for bribes, Zhao also photographed electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system stationed on a U.S. military base in Okinawa, Japan.

Zhao did all of this for a measly $15,000.

Suzanne Turner of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said of the arrests, “These arrests are a reminder of the relentless, aggressive efforts of the People’s Republic of China to undermine our democracy and threaten those who defend it.”

Another thing which the press release doesn’t explain is the background of these two servicemembers. Obviously they both have Chinese names. I doubt that’s a coincidence. Why exactly did they each decide to spy for China? Was it just the money or was there more to it? What exactly was the pitch from the Chinese intelligence officials that convinced them to do this?

Update: The NY Times answers some of the questions I was asking above. Jinchao Wei was an immigrant from China.

In a news conference in San Diego on Thursday, Randy S. Grossman, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of California, said that Mr. Wei, 22, a naturalized citizen, chose to “betray his newly adopted country,” rather than report inappropriate contact from a Chinese intelligence officer…

Mr. Wei was evidently seeking U.S. citizenship while working clandestinely with the Chinese, according to the indictment, with his handler congratulating Mr. Wei when he received it.

What a dirtbag.