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11 October 2018

US charges Chinese individual over trade secret theft and espionage

A Chinese Ministry of State Security (MSS) operative has been charged with economic espionage and stealing trade secrets from US aviation companies, it has been revealed.

The US Department of Justice (DoJ) unsealed the charges against the operative, Yanjun Xu, yesterday, October 10, after he was extradited from Belgium the day before.

Xu was arrested in Belgium on April 1 following a federal complaint. He was then indicted by a federal grand jury in the Southern District of Ohio. The DoJ announced yesterday that he has been charged with conspiring and attempting to commit economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.

Assistant attorney general for national security, John Demers, said that this is not an isolated incident. “It is part of an overall economic policy of developing China at American expense,” he claimed.

“We cannot tolerate a nation’s stealing our firepower and the fruits of our brainpower. We will not tolerate a nation that reaps what it does not sow.”

The MSS is the intelligence and security agency for China. Its responsibilities include counter-intelligence, foreign intelligence and political security. According to the DoJ, the organisation has the power to conduct espionage both domestically and internationally.

US attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Benjamin Glassman, added that innovation in aviation has played an important role in the US since the Wright brothers invented the world’s first successful aeroplane.

“US aerospace companies invest decades of time and billions of dollars in research,” said Glassman.

“In contrast, according to the indictment, a Chinese intelligence officer tried to acquire that same, hard-earned innovation through theft,” he added. “This case shows that federal law enforcement authorities cannot only detect and disrupt such espionage, but can also catch its perpetrators.”

Xu will now face trial in federal court in Cincinnati, Ohio.

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