The mother of a U.S. sailor wanted him to spy for the Chinese Communist Party because he might get a job with them when his Navy stint was over.

Jinchao Wei was arrested last week on an espionage charge that could imprison him for life.

“He allegedly sent over photos and manuals of many other ships other than the U.S.S. Essex that he had been working aboard. He allegedly sent the power structure of the Essex, technical manuals, weapons manuals, damage control, and other important information impacting 1,200 sailors solely aboard the Essex…,” Fox 5 reports.

“When Wei went home to Wisconsin for Christmas to see his mother, who was aware of her son’s arrangement, she aencouraged him to keep helping the Chinese intelligence officer because it might get him a job someday with China’s Communist party after he leaves the U.S. Navy, Assistant U.S. Attorney Fred Sheppard said,” the AP reports.

“Prosecutors have said Wei, born in China, was first approached by a Chinese intelligence officer in February 2022 while applying to become a naturalized US citizen. So he was trying to become a citizen while spying for our enemy. He knew it would hurt his application.”

Sheppard said the Chinese government was willing to fly him and his mother to China to meet them in the spring.

After the Chinese intelligence officer first approached Wei, he allegedly told a fellow sailor he was being recruited by an intelligence agency for “quite obviously (expletive) espionage,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Wei was denied bond.

Wei is one of two sailors based in California accused of providing sensitive military information to China — including details on wartime exercises, naval operations, and critical technical material. He was paid about $15,000 to betray his newly-adopted country. the other sailor is Wencheng Zhao, 26.

The AP is trying to contact the mother.

“Javed Ali, a professor at the University of Michigan and a former senior counterterrorism analyst with the FBI, said the information China now has theoretically gives them an advantage,” says Fox 5.

They use spies like Wei and Zhao to gain information, he said.

“They also have engaged in a much different type of campaign where the public never sees the results where they use cyber methods to infiltrate computer networks either in the government or private companies here, and that is something where China has been able to transform its economy, its military, gain an advantage,” Ali said.

Ali said whatever the U.S. is doing in response to China’s spy efforts isn’t working.

They are busy going after American parents, political opponents, and religious people. They can only do so much.

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