(Patch) CHICAGO, IL — A Chinese national has been arrested on suspicion of spying on the United States for China, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's office. Ji Chaoqun, 27, was living in Chicago while working as an agent for a Chinese intelligence agencies, the government says.

Ji "worked at the direction of a high-level intelligence officer in the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security," the press release said. Accusers say his mission was to obtain biographical information on eight people for potential recruitment by the Chinese intelligence agency.

Some of the individuals targeted for recruitment were Chinese nationals working in highly competitive STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — fields in the U.S., including some U.S. defense contractors.

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