Wenheng Zhao pleads guilty to transmitting secret files to Chinese spy

A US Navy officer has been sentenced to two years in jail for providing sensitive military information to a Chinese intelligence officer, the US Justice Department said.

Wenheng Zhao, 26, of Monterey Park, California, received at least $14,866 in bribe in exchange for secret military information from the Chinese intelligence officer during his service at the Naval Base Ventura County in Port Hueneme.

He pleaded guilty on October 2023 for one count of “conspiring with the intelligence officer and one count of receiving a bribe”.

Zhao was sentenced to 27 months in prison on Monday and fined $5,500.

Zhao passed sensitive information, including plans for a large-scale maritime training exercise in the Indo-Pacific theatre, operational orders and electrical diagrams and blueprints for ground and air radar systems in Okinawa, Japan among several other documents.