Two Communist Chinese Nationals Busted for Espionage and Recruiting Navy Personnel

Two more People’s Republic of China nationals have been apprehended for conducting espionage on American naval bases and recruiting personnel for China’s Ministry of State Security, and the FBI says more arrests are incoming.

Chinese spies allowed into the U.S.

This certainly is nothing new. Under the Biden administration, spies basically were allowed to roam free in the military, our educational system, and in corporate America. However, under the Trump administration, they are now being weeded out. That’s a tall order.

The Chinese nationals are now facing very serious charges for acting as agents of the People’s Republic of China’s government to collect intelligence about U.S. Navy service members and bases. They were also actively recruiting military members to carry out subterfuge for China’s foreign intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security (MSS).

From Fox News:

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said Chinese national Yuance Chen, who resides in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren Lai, who traveled to Houston on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested on Friday. Both individuals face charges of overseeing and carrying out various clandestine intelligence tasks in the U.S. on behalf of the Ministry of State Security.

Along with assisting with the recruitment of potential MSS assets and gathering intel about service members and bases, the two men are accused of facilitating a “dead drop” payment of cash on behalf of the MSS.

NCIS nails communist spies

Chen was taken into custody in Happy Valley, OR, and Lai was nabbed in Houston, TX, thanks to NCIS.

“Today’s arrests reflect the FBI’s unwavering commitment to protecting our national security and safeguarding the integrity of our military,” FBI Director Kash Patel told Fox News Digital in an interview. “The individuals charged were acting on behalf of a hostile foreign intelligence service — part of the Chinese Communist Party’s broader effort to infiltrate and undermine our institutions. Thanks to outstanding coordination with our partners, including NCIS, we disrupted those efforts and sent a clear message: the United States will not tolerate espionage on American soil. Our counterintelligence operations remain focused, vigilant, and relentless.”

The DOJ cited a criminal complaint that was filed in the Northern District of California, noting that the PRC routinely “conducts intelligence activities against the U.S. using various means, including the MSS, which is involved with collecting intelligence on civilians.” The agency also handles political security, counterintelligence, and foreign intelligence for the communist Chinese.

According to the complaint, Lai recruited Chen for the MSS in 2021. In 2022, while in Guangzhou, China, they plotted a dead-drop payment of at least $10,000 for the MSS. They worked with others in the U.S. to facilitate leaving a backpack with the cash at a day-use locker in Livermore, California. It’s old-school but can be effective in spy craft.

Recruiting for the communist Chinese

The two men then worked at identifying other military personnel who would be willing to work with MSS. In 2022 and 2023, they went to a U.S. Naval installation in Washington State and a Navy recruitment center in San Gabriel, California, looking for recruits.

From Fox News:

While at the recruitment center, Chen allegedly took photos of a bulletin board that contained the names, programs, and hometowns of Navy recruits. The majority of those listed on the board noted that their hometown was “China,” and the photos appeared to be transmitted to an MSS intelligence officer in China, the DOJ claimed.

The DOJ also alleged that the MSS gave Chen instructions on what to say to potential recruits when it came to payment that could be made by the MSS, preferred Naval job assignments for potential recruits and methods to minimize Chen’s risk of being exposed.

Chen ultimately began to communicate with a member of the Navy on social media, the DOJ alleges, and arranged for a tour of the USS Abraham Lincoln in San Diego with the employee. Chen also sent information about the employee to the MSS, the complaint said.

In April 2024 and March 2025, Chen traveled to Guangzhou where he met with MSS intelligence officers, the complaint alleged, to discuss pay for specific tasks.

Lai also allegedly traveled to Houston in April 2025 and claimed the purpose of the visit was related to his business as an online retailer. He also claimed he would be staying in Houston for two weeks.

But on May 9, 2025, which was more than four weeks after he arrived in the U.S., Lai was seen traveling in a car with a companion from Houston to California, and back to Junction, Texas, on May 15.

Both men are now being charged with operating in the U.S. as agents of a foreign government without notifying the U.S. attorney general. In other words, they were acting as spies. They could get a fine of up to $250,000 and 10 years in prison.

The Chinese are actively committing espionage in the U.S.

“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,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg asserted. “Under my leadership, the National Security Division will continue to defend our nation and neutralize our adversaries’ clandestine spy networks.”

Last year, a Chinese national was arrested after illegally entering the U.S. and accessing a Marine base in the El Centro Sector of California without authorization.

In June, two Chinese nationals were busted and charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods into the country, false statements, and visa fraud after allegedly smuggling in a fungus described as a “potential agroterrorism weapon.”

Know thy enemy

Patel stated in June at the National Sheriffs’ Association Conference: “The [Chinese Communist Party] is the adversary of our time, and anyone that says otherwise is being selfish or lying to you, or looking for financial gain… They are smart. They are partnering up with the Mexican drug cartels, with the Russians, with every adversary we have, and saying, ‘Look, we don’t really like each other, but we hate America. So, why don’t we team up?’”

(Video Credit: Forbes Breaking News)

That’s exactly right, and the United States has been incredibly remiss in allowing these spies in. The new Axis of Evil, Iran, China, and Russia, are more than willing to take advantage of our stupidity or complicity. These spies are only the tip of the iceberg – there are surely many, many more in the country, and it is a very dangerous situation.

“This case underscores the Chinese government’s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi charged in a statement.

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