Well i didn't advocate it.

And no he was not residing legally if he had overstayed his previous visa, because his next Visa (the current one) would not have been approved if that fact was known to the US embassy in China. Which means he must have either witheld the information or inadvertantly fraudulently completed his application.

Also he would have been given at least a 10 year bar of re-entry after the first time when he overstayed, so most definately he was here illegally.