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US Imprisons Two Chinese Nationals Who Tried to Recruit Military Service Members to Spy for Beijing

  • Two Chinese nationals, Liren Lai and Yuance Chen, were sentenced to 30 months in prison on Friday for conducting an intelligence-gathering operation against U.S. military personnel on behalf of China's Ministry of State Security.
  • Recruitment began with Lai acting as an intermediary for Chen in May 2021, facilitating direct orders from Chinese intelligence officers to the pair.
  • Clandestine "dead drop" cash payments, including $10,000 in California and $20,000 in Phoenix, enabled the pair to photograph U.S. Navy installations in Bremerton, Washington, and recruit service members to gather sensitive information.
  • FBI Counterintelligence and Espionage Division Assistant Director Roman Rozhavsky stated the judicial outcome serves as a "clear warning" to those attempting to jeopardize the safety of U.S. service members, citizens, or the nation.
  • Following their arrest in June 2025, the pair entered guilty pleas within the past year to conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General.
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28 Articles

Lean Left

Two Chinese citizens were sentenced in California to 30 years in prison with execution, followed by three years of conditional release, after being found guilty of espionage in favor of...

Lean Right

Two Chinese citizens were jailed for 30 months in the US after admitting to being agents of Beijing and trying to recruit members of the US military.

Left

A California court sentenced two Chinese men to 30 months ' imprisonment after acknowledging an attempt to recruit members of the U.S. military to spy for Beijing.

·Syrian Arab Republic (the)
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Lean Right

Two Chinese citizens were arrested in the U.S. after admitting that they were trying to recruit U.S. military to act as spies for the Chinese government. The information was released by the Department of Justice in press release on Friday (30). Liren "Ryan" Lai, 40, and Yuance Chen, 39, received 30 months' imprisonment and three years' probation — supervised. The duo sought cash payments in exchange for U.S. national security information, accord…

·Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Al ArabiyaAl Arabiya
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The Manila TimesThe Manila Times
Lean Right

US imprisons two Chinese nationals for spying

·Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
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Al JazeeraAl Jazeera
+2 Reposted by 2 other sources
Lean Left

US jails two Chinese nationals for spying

Liren Lai and Yuance Chen admitted to facilitating ‘dead drop’ cash payments worth at least $30,000 to people in the US.

·Doha, Qatar
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  • 54% of the sources lean Right
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Washington Times broke the news in Washington, United States on Friday, October 30, 2026.
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