A Chinese engineer was sentenced to eight years in prison in the United States on Wednesday (January 25th) for providing Beijing with information on the profiles of American experts for the purpose of recruiting them.
Arriving in 2013 on American soil on a student visa, Ji Chaoqun was accused of identifying American scientists and engineers likely to be recruited by the Chinese intelligence services. He was arrested in September 2018 for providing these services with information on the profile of eight people, all naturalized Americans and from China or Taiwan, some of whom collaborated with the US defense sector. He was found guilty in September of acting illegally as an agent of a foreign government and making false statements after a two-week trial in Chicago.
According to the US Department of Justice, Ji Chaoqun acted under the direction of Xu Yanjun, a Chinese intelligence agent sentenced to 20 years in prison in the US for trying to steal technology from US and French airlines. This agent was found guilty in November 2021 of having, from 2013, sought to obtain information on behalf of China about several aviation companies, including the American General Electric Aviation and the French Safran, which collaborated with GE on the development of an engine.
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