Two active-duty U.S. Army soldiers, Jian Zhao and Li Tian, have been arrested for allegedly selling classified military information to individuals connected to China, highlighting an alarming instance of China espionage targeting American service members.
Zhao and Tian, both stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington, face charges of transmitting national defense information and theft of government property. Prosecutors allege that Zhao sent approximately 20 government hard drives, some marked “secret,” along with documents detailing missile-launcher technology and U.S. military exercises in the Indo-Pacific, to a contact in Changchun, China.
In a separate but related case, Tian is accused of conspiring with former soldier Ruoyu Duan to sell sensitive data on U.S. weapons systems, including manuals for Bradley and Stryker armored vehicles. Duan allegedly received payments from unnamed individuals in China and acted as a liaison among the accused.
The Department of Justice has linked these espionage activities to China’s intelligence efforts. FBI Director Kash Patel stated, “While bribery and corruption have thrived under China’s Communist Party, this behavior cannot be tolerated with our service members who are entrusted with sensitive military information, including national defense information.”
Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute, highlighted the strategic implications, noting that China is “shameless” in its tactics to acquire U.S. military secrets. Sobolik continued, noting both China’s historic reliance on this strategy and the startling willingness of some Americans to betray their country for cheap.
“This is a tactic that China is exercising in the new Cold War that we’re locked in with the Chinese Communist Party,” Sobolik said. “And one of the things that is really striking is the low price that a lot of Americans are willing to sell their patriotism for and their allegiance for. Some of these people didn’t get that much money to sell some really sensitive military secrets over to the Chinese Communist Party.”
