The officer, identified in the documents released on January 8 as Wenheng Zhao, 26, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in China, was arrested in August 2023 along with another American sailor, Jinchao Wei, on charges of spying for Beijing.
According to The New York Post , the US Justice Department initially recommended a 37-month prison sentence because it believed Zhao had obstructed the government's investigation.
Officer Wenheng Zhao
Zhao pleaded guilty in federal court in California in October 2023 to charges of conspiring with a foreign intelligence officer and accepting bribes.
US officials said Zhao, stationed at a naval base north of Los Angeles, California, received nearly $15,000 from Chinese intelligence officers between August 2021 and May 2023.
In return, Zhao transferred sensitive information about US Navy security operations, exercises, and critical infrastructure.
Zhao specifically provided information about a large-scale naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean, as well as schematics and electrical blueprints of a radar system based on the Japanese island of Okinawa. Zhao's lawyer, Tarek Shawky, asked the judge to sentence his client to 12 months in prison.
Meanwhile, Wei, who worked on the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, is accused of giving China dozens of documents, photos and videos detailing operations and sailors on the ship.
The Chinese Embassy in Washington said on January 8 that it did not know the details of Zhao’s US conviction. Instead, it accused “the US government and media” of “hyping up ‘spying’ allegations involving China in recent years, many of which were later proven to be groundless.”
"China firmly opposes the US side's groundless slander and smear of China," the embassy said in an emailed response to the South China Morning Post.
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