Meh I could see them having buyers remorse about joining US forces.You take this news at face value why? You don't think the US would make up charges against Chinese-Americans, especially during this political environment?
Intelligence war on America means being everywhere, at all times. As long as China has resources, they should keep pushing on all sectors, because it's inevitable that some areas will give way. Staying ahead here is one of China's best tools, and the main way how Beijing has decided to fight the cold war. Ever thought that most global developments seem to favor China? That doesn't come for free, there is a whole massive infrastructure dedicated to working behind the scenes.What these sailors provided is just very elementary information. These information isn't highly sensitive or has high value. Many sailors probably would have posted such information in their chat groups to brag. Unless, this Chinese spy agent is looking to build a long term relationship with these guys and hoping these guys in the future could provide more valuable information. Paying for such information isn't worth it.
Either the spy agent is just fishing for any information or the charge is trumped up. However, it does look bad for Chinese Americans either ways. Remember that so many Chinese American scientists were falsely prosecuted for no reason just because of their ethnicity. Many of them were only able to clean their name after their career and lives are ruined. Right now, if FBI or CIA decided to go after soft target such as these little guys, it would further incite prejudice and hatred against Chinese Americans.
China has no obligation to give a shit about "Chinese" Americans. Those are just Americans lol. If they're disgruntled because the American government doesn't treat their own citizens right, China can exploit them. If the US regime is going to ruin the lives of skilled Americans because they're the wrong color, that's an unforced error, in a cold war where they're already not doing so well.
You'll see the 1 attempt where US could catch some informants, not the 9 others where the US didn't know. China should keep probing.