The Borneo Post

Chinese spy jailed for 20 years for economic espionage

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WASHINGTON: A Chinese intelligen­ce officer was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a US court Wednesday for stealing technology from US and French aerospace firms, the Justice Department said.

Xu Yanjun was accused of playing a leading role in a fiveyear Chinese state-backed scheme to steal commercial secrets from GE Aviation, one of the world's leading aircraft engine manufactur­ers, and France's Safran Group, which was working with GE on engine developmen­t.

Xu was one of 11 Chinese nationals, including two intelligen­ce officers, named in October 2018 indictment­s in federal court in Cincinnati, Ohio where GE Aviation is based.

The Chinese Ministry of State Security intelligen­ce officer was arrested in April 2018 in Belgium, where he had apparently been lured into a counter-intelligen­ce operation -- he had planned to secretly meet a GE employee on the trip.

He was extradited to the United States, where he was convicted in a jury trial on Nov 5, 2021 of attempted economic espionage, attempted trade secret theft, and two related conspiracy charges.

“Xu targeted American aviation companies, recruited employees to travel to China, and solicited their proprietar­y informatio­n, all on behalf of the government of the People's Republic of China,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

“This case sends a clear message: we will hold accountabl­e anyone attempting to steal American trade secrets,” said Ohio federal prosecutor Kenneth Parker.

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