A United States (US) court convicted a Chinese spy for crimes involving economic espionage and the attempted theft of trade secrets from American aviation and airspace companies, the Department of Justice (DoJ) said in a statement released Friday.
The defendant, Yanjun Xu, is a Chinese national and the Deputy Division Director of the Sixth Bureau of the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security. He is the first Chinese intelligence officer to be extradited to the US to stand trial.
Xu is charged with two counts of conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage, which carries a maximum statutory penalty of 15 years in prison for each count and a fine of up to $5 million. In addition, he has been charged with one count of conspiracy to commit trade secret theft and two counts of attempted theft of trade secrets, which carries a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years in prison for each count on top of a $250,000 fine.
According to acting US Attorney Vipal J. Patel from the Southern District of Ohio, the Chinese government official employed “classic spy techniques,” including using multiple aliases to target specific leading companies in the US and abroad. The DoJ’s statement also asserts that Xu “identified experts who worked for the companies and recruited them to travel to China, often initially under the guise that they were travelling to give a presentation at a university.” Xu and others also paid stipends to experts, along with covering travel costs.
The government official has also been accused of attempting to steal “technology related to GE Aviation’s exclusive composite aircraft engine fan,” which “no other company in the world has been able to duplicate.” In this pursuit, the DoJ reported that Xu targeted a GE Aviation employee based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The employee, working with the FBI, later travelled to Belgium to meet Xu, where he was arrested on April 1, 2018, and extradited to the US.
Emphasising the significance of the trial, Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the Justice Department’s National Security Division said, “This conviction of a card-carrying intelligence officer for economic espionage underscores that trade secret theft is integral to the PRC government’s plans to modernize its industries.” Olsen was referring to China by its official name, the People’s Republic of China.
He further added that the conviction “serves notice” that the US “will not sit by as China, or any other nation-state, attempts to steal instead of researching and developing key technology.” “With the support of our allies, we will continue to investigate, prosecute, and hold accountable those who try to take the fruits of American ingenuity illegally,” Olsen said.
US Jury Convicts Chinese Spy for Stealing Trade Secrets From Aviation Companies
The defendant is the first Chinese intelligence officer to be extradited to the US to stand trial.
November 8, 2021
SOURCE: GETTY