Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – A US Navy sailor has been convicted of espionage for selling military secrets to China for $12,000, the Justice Department said Thursday. Jinchao Wei was found guilty by a federal jury in California on Wednesday after a five-day trial, the department said in a statement.
Wei, a machinist’s mate on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, and another sailor, Wenheng Zhao, were arrested in August 2023 and charged with spying for China. Zhao pleaded guilty and was sentenced in January of last year to 27 months in prison. Wei went to trial and was convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage and other charges. He is to be sentenced on December 1.
Roman Rozhavsky of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division said Wei sent photographs and videos of US Navy vessels, ship movement information, technical manuals, and weapons capabilities to a Chinese intelligence officer, for which he was paid $12,000. According to US officials, Zhao, who was stationed at a naval base north of Los Angeles, received nearly $15,000 from a Chinese intelligence officer for sensitive information regarding navy operational security, exercises, and critical infrastructure.
Zhao specifically provided information about a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Pacific and electrical diagrams and blueprints for a radar system located in Okinawa, Japan, they said.
© 2024 AFP
