Jinchao Wei, an engineer on the USS Essex, was one of two California-based sailors charged in August 2023 with providing sensitive military information to Beijing.
A former US Navy sailor has been sentenced to 16 years in prison for selling military secrets to China, prosecutors said late on Monday.
A federal judge in San Diego convicted Jinchao Wei in August of six crimes, including espionage.
He was paid more than $12,000 (€10,286) for the information he sold, the US Department of Justice said in a statement.
Wei, an engineer on the USS Essex assault ship, was one of two California-based sailors charged in August 2023 with providing sensitive military information to China.
The other, Wenheng Zhao, was sentenced to more than two years in 2024 after he pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of receiving a bribe in violation of his official duties.
US officials have for years expressed concern about the espionage threat they say the Chinese government poses, bringing criminal cases in recent years against Beijing intelligence operatives who have stolen sensitive government and commercial information, including through illegal hacking.
Wei was recruited via social media in 2022 by an intelligence officer who portrayed himself as a naval enthusiast working for the state-owned China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, prosecutors said.
Evidence presented in court showed Wei told a friend that the person was “extremely suspicious” and that it was "quite obviously" espionage.
Wei disregarded the friend's advice to delete the contact and instead moved conversations with the intelligence officer to a different encrypted messaging app Wei believed was more secure, prosecutors said.
Over the course of 18 months, Wei sent the officer photos and videos of the Essex, advised him of the location of various Navy ships and told him about the Essex's defensive weapons, prosecutors said.
Wei sold the intelligence officer 60 technical and operating manuals, including those for weapons control, aircraft and deck lifts.
The manuals contained export control warnings and detailed the operations of multiple systems aboard the Essex and similar ships.
He was a petty officer second class, which is an enlisted sailor's rank.
The US Navy’s website says the Essex is equipped to transport and support a Marine Corps landing force of over 2,000 troops during an air and amphibious assault.
In a letter to the judge before sentencing, Wei apologised, saying he should not have shared anything with the person he had considered a friend.
Wei said "introversion and loneliness" clouded his judgment.