'Let this serve as a clear warning': Two Chinese men jailed in California for recruiting US service members to spy for Beijing

Two Chinese men who admitted trying to recruit US military service members to spy for Beijing were imprisoned in California on Friday (Oct 30). The men, identified as Liren Lai and Yuance Chen, have been ordered to serve 30 months in a federal lockup and to undergo three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to acting on the orders of China's Ministry of State Security.

The US Department of Justice said the men had carried out clandestine intelligence activities in the United States that included facilitating "dead drop" cash payments in exchange for information related to the national security of the United States. They also gathered information about US military personnel and installations and tried to recruit intelligence assets from within the US military.

“These defendants were directed by a foreign intelligence service to gather information about the U.S. military in the hopes of undermining our national security,” said US Attorney Craig H. Missakian for the Northern District of California.

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"Let this sentencing serve as a clear warning: If you attempt to jeopardise the safety and security of our service members, our citizens, or our nation, justice will find you," said Roman Rozhavsky, assistant director of the FBI's Counterintelligence and Espionage Division.

How the scheme worked: Revealed

Lai, who arrived in the US on a tourist visa, recruited Chen, a permanent resident, into the scheme and initially served as an intermediary between Chen and intelligence officers until Chen was able to receive his orders directly from his handler.

The DoJ said the two men had been working since at least May 2021 for the branch of the Chinese government responsible for conducting foreign intelligence and counterintelligence operations.

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Arrest and plea

They were arrested in June 2025. Both men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to act as agents of a foreign government without prior notification to the Attorney General and acting as agents of a foreign government without prior notification over the following months.