New Delhi July 3 (UNI) Reacting furiously to the narrative of “Chinese spies,” China’s Foreign Ministry stated that it was not aware of the specifics of the case in which two Chinese nationals have been charged with espionage by the US Justice Department. Beijing assured that it would take necessary measures to safeguard the “legitimate rights” of Chinese citizens.
As part of a coordinated counterintelligence and law enforcement operation across multiple states, two Chinese nationals, Chen and Lai, were arrested on June 27 in the United States by the FBI on charges of espionage and for allegedly seeking to recruit members of the US Navy to serve as intelligence assets for China.
Defending its nationals, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said,”China always opposes hyping up the so-called ‘Chinese spies’ narrative and will take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese nationals abroad.”
“The FBI arrested two Chinese nationals who were allegedly attempting to recruit U.S. military service members on behalf of the PRC,” said FBI Director Kash Patel.
Yuance Chen, 38, a PRC national and legal permanent resident residing in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren ‘Ryan’ Lai, 39, a PRC national who traveled from the PRC to Houston, Texas, on a tourist visa in April 2025, were arrested on a criminal complaint charging them with overseeing and carrying out clandestine intelligence taskings in the US on behalf of the PRC Government’s principal foreign intelligence service, the Ministry of State Security (MSS) said in a statement.
The suspects allegedly facilitated a “dead-drop payment” of at least USD 10,000 in a locker at a recreational facility in Northern California in 2022 in exchange for US national security information that had already been passed to Chinese intelligence.
FBI Director Kash Patel stated,“The Chinese Communist Party thought they were getting away with their scheme to operate on U.S. soil, utilizing spy craft, like dead drops, to pay their sources. This case was a complex, coordinated effort and is an example of outstanding counterintelligence work done by FBI San Francisco, Portland, Houston, San Diego, and the Counterintelligence Division. The FBI will continue to vigilantly defend the homeland from China’s pervasive attempts to infiltrate our borders.”
“This case underscores the Chinese government’s sustained and aggressive effort to infiltrate our military and undermine our national security from within,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “The Justice Department will not stand by while hostile nations embed spies in our country- we will expose foreign operatives, hold their agents accountable, and protect the American people from covert threats to our national security” Patel added.
