ALBAWAB - A former US Navy sailor was recently sentenced to 200 months (nearly 17 years) in prison after he was found guilty of spying for China, as reported by Axios.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement on Monday that Jinchao Wei was an "active-duty U.S. Navy sailor, betrayed his country and compromised the national security of the United States" by selling a Chinese intelligence officer sensitive military secrets, such as operating manuals for ships and operating systems.
According to Al Jazeera, Wei was an engineer for the USS Essex ship and was among the two sailors charged with selling military secrets to China in August 2023.
US Navy sailor sentenced to 16 years in prison over spying for China
Wei told a friend that he was in contact with an "extremely suspicious "person. However, despite warnings from his friend, the former Navy sailor moved to a safer and more encrypted chat service to contact the Chinese intelligence officer, according to the prosecutors.
The former Navy sailor sent the judge a letter before sentencing, and apologized for contacting the intelligence officer. He further added that he shouldn't have contacted his friend regarding the matter, and that "introversion and loneliness" affected his chain of thought.
