
US charges two Chinese nationals for recruiting military spies
The suspects facilitated a 'dead-drop payment' of at least $10,000 in a locker at a recreational facility in Northern California in 2022 in exchange for U.S. national security information that had already been passed to Chinese intelligence, the Justice Department said.
Yuance Chen, 38, a legal permanent resident living in Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren 'Ryan' Lai, 39, who arrived in Houston from China in April on a tourist visa, were arrested on Friday, the department said in a statement.
The pair worked on behalf of China's Ministry of State Security and made their initial appearances in federal court in Houston and Portland, Oregon on Monday, it said.
The Justice Department gave no details on who provided the national security information or the military members targeted for recruitment.
After the 2022 incident, the pair 'continued to work on behalf of the MSS, including to help identify potential assets for MSS recruitment within the ranks of the U.S. Navy,' the Justice Department said.
'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,' FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement.
In a statement to Reuters, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu said he was not aware of the specific case but said the allegations were 'assumptions and speculations,' accusing the U.S. of hypocrisy in its global intelligence operations.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Two Chinese nationals arrested in US for espionage
WASHINGTON: Two Chinese nationals have been arrested for espionage and for allegedly seeking to recruit members of the US Navy to serve as intelligence assets, the Justice Department said Tuesday. Yuance Chen, 38, and Liren Lai, 39, face charges of acting as agents of the Chinese government and a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted, the department said. Chen, a resident of Happy Valley, Oregon, and Lai, who arrived in Houston, Texas, in April on a tourist visa, were arrested by the FBI on Friday, it said. According to a criminal complaint, Chen and Lai carried out a number of intelligence activities in the United States on behalf of China's Ministry of State Security. The activities included paying cash for national security information and seeking to recruit members of the US Navy as potential assets of the Ministry of State Security. '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 said in a statement. According to the criminal complaint, Lai recruited Chen, a legal permanent resident of the United States, to work for the Ministry of State Security in 2021. Asked about the case on Wednesday, China's foreign ministry said it 'opposed the hyping up of so-called Chinese spies'. 'We will also take necessary measures to safeguard the lawful rights and interests of Chinese citizens', foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said.


Malaysia Sun
3 hours ago
- Malaysia Sun
China ups military incursions around Taiwan
Taipei [Taiwan], July 2 (ANI): Taiwan's Ministry of National Defence (MND) detected 53 Chinese aircraft and eight Chinese naval vessels operating around its territory as of Wednesday, 6 am (local time). In a post on X, the MND said, '53 sorties of PLA aircraft and 8 PLAN vessels operating around Taiwan were detected up until 6 a.m. (UTC+8) today. 37 out of 53 sorties crossed the median line and entered Taiwan's northern and southwestern ADIZ. We have monitored the situation and responded accordingly.' Meanwhile, the ministry stated that the Han Kuang exercises are scheduled to be held from July 9 to 18. For the first time, two of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft carriers, the Liaoning and the Shandong, have simultaneously operated in the Western Pacific, crossing the second island chain in what analysts call a major strategic escalation, according to Taipei Times. Taiwan's National security officials told the Taipei Times that the PLA's dual-carrier manoeuvre aims to demonstrate China's growing ability to control sea lanes, project military power, and pressure regional players into reassessing their security ties with democratic allies. The operations have drawn sharp attention from the United States, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. On June 7, Japan's Ministry of Defence confirmed the Liaoning was spotted near Minamitori Island, Japan's easternmost point. Two days later, the Shandong entered Japan's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) near Okinotorishima, coming within 1,700 km of Tokyo. Since May 19, both carrier groups have conducted increasingly assertive drills, each accompanied by additional warships and supply vessels. The Liaoning carried out aircraft takeoff drills, maritime patrols, and mock attacks in the East China and Yellow Seas, while the Shandong manoeuvred from northeast of the Philippines to Japan's southwestern Islands, later returning via the Balintang Channel, Taipei Times reported. (ANI)


New Straits Times
4 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Dalai Lama says he will be reincarnated, Trust will identify successor
DHARAMSHALA, India: The elderly Dalai Lama assured his followers on Wednesday that upon his death he would be reincarnated as the next spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism and spelt out a succession process that sets up a renewed clash with China. The eagerly awaited statement, made days before the frail Nobel peace laureate turns 90, puts to rest speculation, started by the Dalai Lama himself, that he may be the last of Tibet's spiritual leaders, ending a line that stretches back centuries. Speaking during a week of celebrations in the northern Indian hill town of Dharamshala to mark his birthday, the Dalai Lama said a non-profit institution he has set up will have the sole authority to identify his reincarnation, countering China's insistence that it will choose his successor. Beijing reiterated on Wednesday that it had to approve the reincarnation and that it had to be done in China through a centuries-old ritual. Beijing views the Dalai Lama, who fled to India from Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule, as a separatist. The Dalai Lama has said his successor will be born outside China and urged his followers to reject anyone chosen by Beijing. In previous years, he had also said it was possible that there might be no successor at all. "I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue," the Dalai Lama said in a video message, setting off claps and cheers from more than 100 monks in maroon robes who had gathered in a library in Dharamshala. The event was also attended by journalists from around the world and long-time supporters including Hollywood star Richard Gere, who sat in the audience in a hall that had ornate paintings of the Buddha and photographs of the Dalai Lama on the walls. He added that the Gaden Phodrang Trust, the non-profit organisation that he set up to maintain and support the tradition and institution of the Dalai Lama, has the sole authority to recognise his reincarnation in consultation with the heads of Tibetan Buddhist traditions. "They should accordingly carry out the procedures of search and recognition in accordance with past tradition ... no one else has any such authority to interfere in this matter," the Dalai Lama said. Tibetan tradition holds that the soul of a senior Buddhist monk is reincarnated in the body of a child upon his death. Born as Lhamo Dhondup on July 6, 1935, to a farming family in what is now Qinghai province, the 14th Dalai Lama was identified as such a reincarnation when he was just two years old by a search party on the basis of several signs, such as a vision revealed to a senior monk, the Dalai Lama's website says. He is now regarded as one of the world's most influential religious figures, with a following extending well beyond Buddhism, and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. The Dalai Lama was in good health and has not given any written instructions yet on the succession, said Samdhong Rinpoche, a senior official of the Gaden Phodrang Trust. He told reporters in Dharamshala that the successor can be of any gender and that their nationality would not be restricted to Tibet. Penpa Tsering, leader of the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government-in-exile in India, said the Dalai Lama would be open to visiting Tibet if his health permits and if there were no restrictions from China, which would mark his first visit to the country since 1959. "It's entirely dependent on China and the Chinese government," he said, adding that Beijing had put a condition that if the Dalai Lama visits, he should stay back. "His holiness' response is 'If I get to go to Tibet and China, I will go, but I will not live there, because there is no freedom there'. This is also connected with the reincarnation where his holiness says 'I will be born in a free world'", Tsering said. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the country's leaders had the right to approve the Dalai Lama's successor, as a legacy from imperial times, and that China practices a policy of freedom of religious belief. A selection ritual, in which the names of possible reincarnations are drawn from a golden urn, dates to 1793, during the Qing dynasty. "The child reincarnation of a major Living Buddha such as the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama needs to be identified through lot-drawing from a golden urn and approval by the central government," Mao said at a regular news conference. Tsering, the leader of the government-in-exile, said the US had lifted some restrictions on funds for Tibetans in exile and that the Tibetan government was also looking for alternate sources of funding. The United States, which faces rising competition from China for global dominance, has repeatedly said it is committed to advancing the human rights of Tibetans. US lawmakers have previously said they would not allow China to influence the choice of the Dalai Lama's successor.