The GOP House Committee on Homeland Security released a “China Threat Snapshot” which highlighted 60 plus Chinese Communist Party (CCP) espionage cases in the United States since 2001. The snapshot encompassed events in 20 U.S. states and totaled over 220 incidents. According to the report, approximately 80 percent of all espionage cases, and about 60 percent of trade secret theft cases, are somehow linked to the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The report highlights numerous arrests, and the following guilty pleas and convictions in 2024 alone:

On Dec. 18, 2024, New York City resident Chen Jinping, pled guilty to conspiring to act as an illegal agent for the PRC. Jinping was involved in opening and operating an undeclared overseas police station in lower Manhattan for the PRC’s Ministry of Public Security. According to court filings, Jinping and co-defendant “Harry” Lu Jianwang allegedly obstructed justice by destroying evidence of their communication with the PRC’s government.
On Dec. 16, 2024, PRC citizen Klaus Pflugbeil was sentenced to 24 months in prison for conspiring to send trade secrets that belonged to a U.S.-based electric vehicle company to the PRC. He and his co-conspirators established a business in the PRC to sell stolen sensitive technology that belongs to a U.S. company. According to court documents, he and his co-conspirators made efforts to hide that they had stolen trade secrets.
On Nov. 19, 2024, John Chen, a resident of Los Angeles and citizen of the PRC, was sentenced to 20 months in prison for acting as an unregistered agent and bribing an IRS agent in connection with a plot to target U.S.-based practitioners of Falun Gong. According to court documents, the PRC government directed Chen as part of the PRC’s policy of repression against the Falun Gong.
On Aug. 13, 2024, Korbein Schultz, a U.S. Army intelligence analyst, pled guilty to multiple charges, including conspiracy to obtain and disclose national defense information and bribery of a ...