China apparently isn't being particularly subtle about its nefarious intentions these days, and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli from the Central District of California is sounding the alarm about what the Chicoms are up to.
According to Essayli, Chinese spy operations inside the United States are "extremely pervasive" and Beijing is very much "playing the long game" when it comes to uncovering our nation's secrets.
Essayli said in a Monday interview with Fox News Digital, "China is one of our biggest adversaries, and they're committed to advancing their interests. And they're playing the long game, and so they are willing to put a lot of resources into developing sources, recruiting people within the U.S. to advance their interests."
And he brought the receipts to prove it, pointing to several cases that his office has handled just this year.
HOMELAND THREAT: "There's no limit to what China is willing to do. It is a huge, huge concern. We have to be vigilant, and we have to disrupt these operations on our soil," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told Fox News Digital. Essayli rattled off a string of cases from his office this year: a woman accused of surveilling the Taiwanese president's son in Seattle, a man accused of selling $300 million in AI chips to China and a city mayor who pleaded guilty to serving as an unregistered agent of Beijing. Full story here https://t.co/dYIZ2YJb49
— Fox News Politics (@foxnewspolitics) October 12, 2026
HOMELAND THREAT: "There's no limit to what China is willing to do. It is a huge, huge concern. We have to be vigilant, and we have to disrupt these operations on our soil," First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told Fox News Digital.
Essayli rattled off a string of cases from his office this year: a woman accused of surveilling the Taiwanese president's son in Seattle, a man accused of selling $300 million in AI chips to China and a city mayor who pleaded guilty to serving as an unregistered agent of Beijing.
Earlier this month, federal law enforcement arrested 34-year-old Wanying "Heather" Zhang of Irvine, California, on charges that she acted as an unregistered agent of the People's Republic of China and conducted surveillance on the U.S.-based relatives of one high-ranking official from Taiwan.
And on October 1, federal prosecutors announced the arrest of a San Gabriel businessman by the name of Yiu Kong "Greg" Lui, who is accused of "smuggling to China more than $300 million worth of export-controlled high-end computer servers containing U.S.-manufactured graphics processing units (GPUs) commonly used for Super Intelligence (SI) applications."
Then there's the case of former Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang.
Federal prosecutors charged Wang in May with acting as an illegal agent of China. In a plea agreement, Wang admitted that she worked at the direction of the PRC to promote Beijing's interests in the U.S., including by publishing pro-China propaganda.
Each of these cases is troubling on its own. When taken together, as Essayli points out, they can only lead to one conclusion: Beijing's surveillance operations in the United States aren't just a simple "spying" operation. It's full-on espionage.
"They're willing to steal our technology; they're willing to engage in espionage here. So, there's no limit to what China is willing to do. It is a huge, huge concern. We have to be vigilant, and we have to disrupt these operations on our soil," Essayli said. "We have to protect our sovereignty."