The man has been identified as 27-year-old Ji Chaoqun.

According to US prosecutors, Chaoqun was charged with acting as an illegal foreign agent in the United States of America.

He came to the US five year ago, in 2013, to study electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.

Three years later, Chaoqun enlisted in the US Army Reserves.

According to a criminal complaint in a Chicago court, the alleged spy was working in the US for a high level intelligence officer in Beijing.