“A spy for the Chinese Ministry of State Security was arrested and indicted on charges of economic espionage and attempting to steal trade secrets from several U.S. aviation and aerospace companies, the Justice Department said on Wednesday. Chinese operative Yanjun Xu, a deputy division director for the ministry’s Jiangsu State Security Department, is accused of targeting several aerospace companies, including GE Aviation, a subsidiary of General Electric Co, the Justice Department said in a statement.
GE Aviation is a top manufacturer of jet and turboprop engines and components for commercial, military, business and general aviation aircraft. It has supplied engines for large Boeing Co and Airbus SE planes, and is working on a new generation of engines for commercial planes and heavy-lift military helicopters. The Ministry of State Security is China’s intelligence and security agency, responsible for counterintelligence, foreign intelligence and political security. It has broad powers to conduct espionage domestically and abroad, the statement said. The charges come as the United States increases pressure on China over its trade policies and alleged theft of U.S. companies’ intellectual property.”
Source: Chinese spy charged with trying to steal U.S. aviation trade secrets