Two Chinese nationals have been charged with acting as foreign agents after allegedly spying on U.S. Navy personnel and recruiting military members to assist China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).
The Department of Justice announced that Yuance Chen, a resident of Happy Valley, Oregon, and Liren Lai, who entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in April, were both arrested Friday. The pair are accused of secretly carrying out assignments for the MSS, China’s primary foreign intelligence service.
Authorities say the two men helped identify potential recruits for the MSS, collected intelligence on service members, and even carried out a “dead drop” cash payment inside the U.S.
The FBI and Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) worked together to arrest Chen in Oregon and Lai in Houston. FBI Director Kash Patel said the arrests send a strong message: “The United States will not tolerate espionage on American soil.”
According to the DOJ, the MSS regularly targets Americans through covert methods to gather political, military, and civilian intelligence. Chen was allegedly recruited by Lai back in 2021 and became increasingly involved in sensitive intelligence work.
The complaint says the pair helped coordinate a $10,000 cash drop in Livermore, California, using a backpack in a day-use locker — all on behalf of the MSS.
In 2022 and 2023, the men visited a Navy installation in Washington and a recruitment center in California. There, Chen reportedly photographed a bulletin board with details about Navy recruits — many of whom listed their hometowns as “China.”
Chen later used social media to contact a Navy member and arranged a tour of the USS Abraham Lincoln. The DOJ says Chen passed the sailor’s information back to MSS handlers during multiple trips to China.
If convicted, both men face up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. “We will not rest until foreign spy networks like this are shut down and exposed,” said Assistant Attorney General John Eisenberg. “This is about defending our country from those who seek to undermine it from within.”