Fergie's Tech Blog

U.S. Sentences Three for Military Tech Leaks to China

Owen Fletcher writes on PC World:

The U.S. has sentenced three Chinese men to federal prison for attempting to export technology with potential military applications to China, the U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday.

In separate cases, two of the men were charged with attempting to export thermal-imaging cameras, and a third was charged with illegally exporting hundreds of integrated circuits that could be used in military radar systems, the department said in a statement.

The men, all from Beijing, were given prison terms of between 20 months and five years in rulings handed down starting last week. Their exports to China were illegal without clearance from the U.S. Department of Commerce because the items have both military and non-military uses, the statement said.

In the case of the integrated circuits, prosecutors argued that the defendant was using a front company in the U.S. to ship items to his company in Beijing, it said. A catalog from the man's Beijing company was found to carry pictures of military craft and state a goal of helping "facilitate the building of the national defense of China," the statement said, citing the sentencing brief.

Prosecutors also argued that the man supplied restricted U.S. technology to several Chinese customers, including one linked to a state-owned company that makes missile systems and spacecraft.

posted by Fergie @ 8/04/2009 08:59:00 PM