Chinese student arrested in US for spying on behalf of Beijing

Ji Chaoqun has been spying on US defence contractors.
Sky News

Student-spy Ji Chaoqun is charged with spying on eight American citizens. 

A Chinese national has been charged with spying on US citizens in an attempt to recruit scientists and engineers.
Ji Chaoqun has been providing Chinese intelligence with information about eight US citizens, some of whom were defence contractors.
He was charged with one count of knowingly acting as an agent of a foreign government, without prior notification to the US attorney general.
Ji appeared in court on Tuesday with an interpreter. 

When asked if he knew his rights, he answered "I understand" in English.
He faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted. 

He was held in custody after the hearing.
Ji first arrived in Chicago five years ago on a student visa to study electrical engineering.
Ji was working at the direction of a high-level intelligence officer in China's Ministry of State Security, which handles civilian intelligence collection and is responsible for counter-intelligence and foreign intelligence, as well as political security.
Ji admitted to his work after one of his handlers was arrested earlier this year.
He told undercover agents: "They just wanted me to purchase some documents on their behalf. Their reason was just because it was inconvenient for them to make payments from China."
After a warrant was issued to search Ji's email account in March 2018, investigators found he had emailed background reports on eight US individuals generated by three different background report companies.
He sent the documents in an email with a subject line about midterm quiz questions.
The companies only accept payments from US credit cards and for US customers.
In a statement, the US Department of Justice said: "In 2016, Ji enlisted in the US army reserves as an E4 specialist under the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) programme, which authorises the US armed forces to recruit certain legal aliens whose skills are considered vital to the national interest.
"In his application to participate in the MAVNI program, Ji specifically denied having had contact with a foreign government within the past seven years, the complaint states.
"In a subsequent interview with a US army officer, Ji again failed to disclose his relationship and contacts with the intelligence officer."
The eight people Ji has been spying on are naturalised US citizens who were born in Taiwan or China.
Investigators trawled Ji's phone records and found dozens of texts between him and two Chinese intelligence officers, including arrangements to meet up.
Relations between the US and China are already strained because of the pending trade war.
On Monday, the US president imposed extra tariffs on $200bn (£152bn) worth of Chinese goods, mostly technology-related products. 

China then announced a series of retaliatory tariffs on $60bn (£45.6bn) of US imports.
It follows a lengthy row between the U.S. and China over the America's trade deficit with the nation.

China’s “Thousand Talented Spies” program

U.S. Faces Unprecedented Threat From China on Tech Takeover

• U.S. intelligence sees it as ‘flagship’ for U.S. tech access
• National intelligence director outlines threat to lawmakers

By Anthony Capaccio

China's student-spies

China’s “Thousand Talents” program to tap into its citizens educated or employed in the U.S. is a key part of multi-pronged efforts to transfer, replicate and eventually overtake U.S. military and commercial technology, according to American intelligence officials.
The program, begun in 2008, is far from secret. 

But its unadvertised goal is to facilitate the legal and illicit transfer of U.S. technology, intellectual property and know-how to China, according to an unclassified analysis by the National Intelligence Council, the branch of U.S. intelligence that assesses long-term trends.
The program was highlighted Thursday to House Armed Services Committee members as Pentagon and intelligence officials outlined what they said was an aggressive, 10-part Chinese “toolkit for foreign technology acquisition.”
The National Intelligence Council’s analysis described the Thousand Talents Plan as “China’s flagship "talent" program and probably the largest in terms of funding.” 

The program also was cited in a combative White House report posted Tuesday titled “How China’s Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World.”

Breakdown of Recruits
The assessment discussed Thursday numbered the current of pool Thousand Talents recruits at 2,629 -- 44 percent of whom specialize in medicine, life or health sciences, 22 percent in applied industrial technologies, 8 percent in computer sciences and 6 percent each in aviation/aerospace and astronomy. Smaller percentages possessed U.S.-garnered expertise in economics, finance and mathematics.
American military and intelligence officials have long warned that China threatens the nation’s security as well as its economy. 

The warnings have escalated under President Donald Trump, whose moves to impose tariffs on China and Beijing’s counter-moves have heightened fears of a trade war.

‘Unprecedented Threat’
The Pentagon “is facing an unprecedented threat to its technological and industrial base,” as the U.S.’s “open society” has “offered China full access to the same technology and information that is crucial to the success of our future war-fighting capabilities,” Michael Griffin, under secretary for research and engineering, testified at Thursday’s hearing.
“We have seen the Chinese target top talent in American universities and research labs
of the private sector, including defense contractors and the U.S. government,” he said. 

The solution must include strengthening American counterintelligence capabilities and elevating the private sector’s focus on security, he added.
Tony Schinella, the national intelligence officer for military issues, testified that in addition to using the Thousand Talents program, “Beijing also has employed Western-trained returnees to implement important changes in its science, engineering, and math curricula that foster greater creativity and applied skills at China’s top-tier universities.”
Another tool to gain access to U.S. technology is “joint ventures, mergers, and acquisitions,” he said. 

“Tech transfer to China is occurring in part through increased levels in investment and acquisitions of U.S. companies, which hit a record level in 2016 before dropping somewhat in 2017 and again in the first half of 2018.”
China’s aggregate investment in American technology over the past decade, from 2007 to 2017, totaled approximately $40 billion and was about $5.3 billion last year, he said.