Chinese spy Xiaoqing Zheng and the “Thousand Talents” Program

President Trump: "Almost every student coming to the U.S. from China is a spy"
Bloomberg News

China’s government has forbidden state media from referencing its flagship "talent" recruitment program after a participant was arrested by the Federal Bureau of Investigation last month, according to people familiar with the situation.
The program, known as “Thousand Talents,” began in 2008 as a way for the government to attract the brightest Chinese people abroad to contribute to innovative sectors in China’s economy.
Censorship of the term follows other recent orders to ban mentions of “China-U.S. trade war,” the #MeToo movement, a vaccine scandal and a faulty peer-to-peer money-lending program.
China’s foreign ministry and State Council Information Office didn’t immediately reply to faxed questions about the censorship.
The order reflects growing concerns in Beijing over China’s image abroad as Western governments become increasingly skeptical of investment from the world’s second-largest economy. 
Australia in June introduced unprecedented foreign interference laws amid reports of Chinese meddling, while espionage fears threaten to open a new front in the President Donald Trump’s trade war.
The U.S. Justice Department on Tuesday informed the state-owned Xinhua News Agency and China Global Television Network that they must register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act.
That requires organizations attempting to influence U.S. policy makers or public opinion on behalf of foreign governments to disclose information about their ownership structure and annual budget.
The Trump administration in May announced plans to restrict the visas of Chinese students studying in America.
During an Aug. 8 dinner with CEOs and senior staffers, President Trump claimed that almost every student coming to the U.S. from China is a spy, according to Politico.
A recent White House report was titled “How China’s Economic Aggression Threatens the Technologies and Intellectual Property of the United States and the World.”
Texas Tech University circulated a letter Sept. 9 alerting staff to legislation receiving consideration in Congress that would sanction U.S. faculty associated with Chinese, Iranian and Russian "talent" programs -- including “Thousand Talents.”
The spying program attracted 7,018 participants between its inception in 2008 and last August, according to China’s state media.

Xiaoqing Zheng

Beijing’s censorship order for “Thousand (Spy) Talents” came after the August arrest in New York state of Xiaoqing Zheng, a 56-year-old Chinese-American General Electric Co. engineer.
Zheng, who had worked on steam turbine technologies for GE after being hired in 2008, has stolen technology secrets from the company. 
Zheng was recruited to the Thousand Talents program in 2012. 
He traveled often between the U.S. and China, founding two companies in China that also specialize in turbine technology.
At least two of the program’s other participants were caught up in U.S. judicial cases this year.
Chinese leaders once saw "talent" recruitment as crucial to their quest to be a global scientific and technological power by 2049, with Xi Jinping calling it “the key” to China’s scientific development. But lately China has sought to downplay its significance, purging terms depicting it as a menacing power and toning down language on plans for expansion.
No major reports on the “Thousand Talents” program could be found on the official Xinhua News Agency’s database between Aug. 1 and Sept. 19. 
That compares with regular pieces between January and July.
“Keeping a humble attitude is constructive for China’s international relations, easing the doubts that China is anxious to overtake the U.S.’s position in leading the world,” said Wang Huiyao, founder of the Center for China and Globalization, an independent think tank.
Immigrants from China and other nations have been shown to typically pay higher tuition rates that can help subsidize educations of their native-born peers.
As of 2013, 84 percent of Chinese doctorates remained in America five years after graduation, according to the National Science Foundation.

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.

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 “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, produced in April, 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.
The U.S. still is seeking a level of cooperation with China, including its help in maintaining sanctions to pressure North Korea to dismantle its nuclear weapons program. 

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday that he’s traveling to China next week.

‘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 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.