A senior US State Department adviser who had numerous meetings with Chinese government officials is accused of stealing thousands of classified documents.

Ashley Tellis was charged with the unlawful retention of national defence information which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison, court documents show.

During a search of Mr Tellis’s home in Vienna, Virginia, on Oct 11, investigators recovered over 1,000 pages of documents marked “top secret” or “secret” stashed in the basement of the property, according to an FBI affidavit obtained from the Eastern District of Virginia.

The documents were hidden in locked filing cabinets, near a desk and “three large” bin bags in a storage room at the home, court documents show.

The search marked the culmination of a multi-year investigation into Mr Tellis for allegedly using his top secret security clearance to access and share sensitive information with Beijing officials.

The former Bush White House adviser currently serves as an unpaid adviser to the State Department and as a contractor within the department of defence, specialising on India and South Asian affairs.