UK warning about helping China

The next year, 2014, Su was arrested in Canada and sent to the US.

Sending stolen military data to China

According to a US Department of Justice statement from 2016, in that year he “pleaded guilty … to participating in a years-long conspiracy to hack into the computer networks of major US defense contractors, steal sensitive military and export-controlled data and send the stolen data to China”.

John Carlin, then the US’s assistant attorney general for the National Security Division, said: “Su Bin admitted to playing an important role in a conspiracy, originating in China, to illegally access sensitive military data, including

data relating to military aircraft that are indispensable in keeping our military personnel safe.”

Su’s plea agreement said he “owns and operates a business that deals in aviation and aerospace technology, a field in which the defendant is trained and knowledgeable”.

In July 2016, Su was sentenced to 46 months in jail in the US.

A US government list of entities found to be “acting contrary to the national security or foreign policy interests of the United States” red-flagged Su and the company he ran, Lode Technology, which had an address in China.

Instigating antagonism

China, meanwhile, has previously brushed off allegations stemming from the UK that it was using technology to threaten global security.

In October, the same month in which the UK warned former military personnel against providing training to China, the Chinese embassy in the UK issued a statement saying it was promoting world peace.

“Those who … propagate the so-called China threat,” the statement said, “and instigate antagonism and confrontation will only expose their sinister intention and ugly face, and ultimately shoot themselves in the foot.”