Chinese Spy Gets 20 Years for Aviation Espionage Plot

A prolific Chinese spy who attempted to steal tricks from US aviation businesses has been jailed for 20 years, in a very first for the Division of Justice (DoJ).

Yanjun Xu, 42, rose to become deputy division director at the Ministry of Condition Security (MSS) intelligence agency. Nonetheless, he was arrested in Belgium in 2018 right after currently being lured there by an FBI agent posing as a GE Aviation worker that Xu was cultivating to supply Beijing with info.

Xu was the to start with ever Chinese intelligence officer to be extradited to the US, in accordance to the DoJ.

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The MSS spy reportedly played a important purpose in a innovative, multi-year plot to steal trade secrets and techniques from western aerospace firms that aided the nation establish its C919 industrial airliner, between other issues.

Xu utilized aliases, entrance companies and universities to trick aviation workforce and solicit details, often recruiting them to vacation to China under the guise of providing a presentation at a college, which they had been compensated for.

He also labored with colleagues to hack the computer systems of GE Aviation personnel in their resort rooms although other MSS officers took the staffers out to supper, according to the DoJ.

In addition, Xu recruited insiders at a French plane engine manufacturer’s plant in China who were being prepared to spy for Beijing, and planted malware on the notebook of a French government who often travelled to the facility.

Xu also directed Chaoqun Ji, who entered the US on an F-1 college student visa, to recruit men and women in the US. In 2016 Ji was permitted to join the US military and apparently stated his plan was to receive prime security clearance. He was convicted in 2022.

“This scenario is just the newest instance of the Chinese government’s ongoing attacks on American economic security – and, by extension, our nationwide security” explained FBI director Christopher Wray.

“The Chinese federal government tasked an officer of its spy provider to steal US trade tricks so it could progress its own industrial and army aviation endeavours, at the cost of an American organization. This brazen motion reveals that the Chinese governing administration will cease at very little to put our organizations out of business to the detriment of US staff.”

A federal jury in Cincinnati convicted Xu on all counts: conspiracy to dedicate financial espionage, conspiracy to commit trade top secret theft, attempted economic espionage and attempted trade mystery theft.