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In a rare exploit, federal agents have lured a Chinese government spy to Belgium, where the authorities transferred it to the United States this week to be prosecuted, US officials said on Wednesday.
Yanjun Xu, a senior official of the state's security ministry, is accused of having sought to steal trade secrets from large defense-related companies, senior officials said. from the Ministry of Justice. His capture helps to convey the point of view of US law enforcement officials who have been criticized in recent years and who fear that charges of foreign agents may not lead defendants to appear before a tribunal.
Officials and former officials said it was apparently the first time that a Chinese government spy was brought to the United States to face charges.
This announcement comes as the Trump government has dramatically stepped up its rhetoric against China in the context of a trade war and the general deterioration of relations between the world powers. Last week, Vice President Pence accused Chinese security agencies of[ing] the wholesale theft of American technology – including advanced "military plans".
Officials from the Justice Ministry said that the indictment was only the latest example of China seeking to develop its economy at the expense of American companies and know-how.
"No one is honoring a country that generates the most innovative ideas and, from them, develops the best technology," said Deputy Attorney General for National Security John Demers. "But we can not tolerate a nation stealing our firepower and the fruits of our intelligence. We will not tolerate a nation harvesting what it does not sow. "
Xu, also known as Qu Hui and Zhang Hui, has been accused of conspiring and attempting economic espionage and stealing trade secrets from many US aeronautical and aerospace companies. The indictment was unsealed on Wednesday – the same day that Xu appeared in federal court in Cincinnati.
"This case shows that federal law enforcement agencies can not only detect and disrupt espionage, but can also pick up on their perpetrators," said US District Attorney South Ohio. , Benjamin C. Glassman.
The MSS is a civil espionage agency responsible for counterintelligence, foreign intelligence and national political security. He has also been involved in a major piracy of a marine contractor developing submarine warfare capabilities, including secret plans for the construction of a supersonic anti-ship missile for use on submarines. by 2020.
Xu is deputy division director at the Ministry of State Security of Jiangsu Province. [JSSD], a provincial branch of the MSS.
"If it's not the first case, it's an exceptionally rare feat: you can catch an espionage agent and have him extradited to the United States," said John Carlin, former Deputy Attorney General for National Security. "This significantly increases the stakes for China and is part of the deterrence program that some people thought would never be possible."
From December 2013 until his arrest in Belgium on April 1, Xu targeted experts working for aeronautical companies in and outside the United States, including GE Aviation, based in Cincinnati, officials said. GE Aviation has spent decades developing its unique jet engines and fan blades.
Xu recruited the experts to visit China, often under the pretext of asking them to make a presentation at the university and pretending to be an official of the Jiangsu Science and Technology Association.
"I do not remember a case of economic espionage in which we had first arrested the person who was running inside the United States and then directed him. from abroad, "said Carlin, author of the upcoming book Dawn of the Code War. .
Xu has often exchanged information with people from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronomy [NUAA], one of the best engineering schools in China and has significant influence on the Chinese aerospace industry, according to court documents.
GE Aviation cooperated with the FBI at the start of the investigation, which dates back more than a year, officials said.
The case of Xu is linked to the arrest last month of Ji Chaoqun, 27, a Chinese citizen living in Chicago, according to people close to the case. Ji was accused of forwarding information on eight Americans to Chinese intelligence agents for possible recruitment.
Mr. Ji spoke to people in the science and technology sectors, seven of whom were working for US defense subcontractors or had just retired. All were naturalized American citizens born in Taiwan or China.
According to a criminal complaint, Ji reportedly began communicating with Chinese intelligence agents at the end of 2013. He traveled to China three times between 2013 and 2015.
Ji would have masked the profiles of the eight people as "mid-term test questions" in an email to an intelligence officer [A] in 2015.
Ji arrived in the United States in 2013 to study electrical engineering at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. In 2016, he enlisted in the US Army Reserves as part of a special foreign recruiting program whose skills are considered essential to the interest national.
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