COLUMNS

A Sting Operation Lifts the Lid on Chinese Espionage

undefined and VP of Tactical Analysis
Scott Stewart
VP of Tactical Analysis, Stratfor

Oct 16, 2018 | 09:00 GMT

A jet engine is seen in this file photo. Chinese national Xu Yanjun is accused of attempting to steal jet technology from a company in the United States.

A jet engine is seen in this file photo. Chinese national Xu Yanjun is accused of attempting to steal jet technology from a company in the United States.

(MICHAEL WINSTON ROSA/Shutterstock.com)

Highlights

  • China and others, such as Russia, will continue their attempts to acquire intelligence as they strive to achieve technological parity with the West.
  • Because it is faster and cheaper to steal technology than develop it from scratch, Western companies, universities and other organizations will remain prime targets.
  • Although the Chinese operative at the center of the latest case has been captured, the high stakes involved mean that the arrest will do little to curb the persistent threat of industrial espionage.

The case was unprecedented: On Oct. 10, Belgium extradited a Chinese intelligence officer to the United States after an Ohio court had indicted the operative on charges of "economic espionage involving theft of trade secrets from leading U.S. aviation companies." Belgian authorities arrested Xu Yanjun, a deputy division director of the Sixth Bureau of China's State Security Ministry in Jiangsu, on April 1 in Brussels based on an arrest warrant issued in connection with a U.S. criminal complaint. Once Belgian authorities extradited Xu to the United States on Oct. 10, American authorities unsealed the indictment and the initial criminal complaint....

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