Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao of the U.S. Navy has pleaded guilty to accepting bribes and selling sensitive military secrets to China. Zhao originally pleaded not guilty when he was originally charged on August 4th. He was accused of collecting $15,000 in bribes from a Chinese intelligence officer in exchange for information, photos, and videos that included Navy exercises, operations, resources, and facilities. Recently the treasonous petty officer has pleaded guilty after previously pleading not guilty to the charges of treason. The information that was provided also included plans of a large-scale indo-pacific invasion by the United States. Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao is facing a statutory maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, he has not yet been sentenced or tried.
I think that this situation is peculiar because $15,000 is a very low payment to send military secrets to the United States’ rival. I don’t understand how this navy officer could have been bought out by China for such a low price. Part of the United States’ training is loyalty to your country so it doesn’t make sense that he was bought out by no more than the price of a used car. I feel like there’s more to this story that we aren’t being told by the United States government. Or my alternate theory, Wenheng Zhao was an intelligence officer from China and was sent to spy on the United States, and then once he was caught, denied everything as the Chinese government refused to admit that they had sent and implemented a spy into the United States military.
In class we’ve talked about how betrayal between 2 countries can bring an all out war and strain economies. By the U.S. and China going to war it can destroy the imports and exports out of both countries and with China being the massive producer that they are can have global implications.