Dismantling Chinese Spy Plans 'Planted' In The US Since 2015

JAKARTA - Ji Chaoqun (31 years) was sentenced to eight years in prison in the United States. He is not just anyone. He is a Chinese spy who has been in the US since 2015.

Ji Chaoqun plays an engineer but his real job, stealing aviation trade secrets. Ji had arrived in the US on a student visa a decade ago.

Ji was finally arrested in September 2018 after meeting with US law enforcement agents posing as representatives of China's Ministry of State Security (MSS).

He is accused of providing information to the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security (JSSD) about eight people for possible recruitment.

The individuals are all naturalized US citizens of Chinese or Taiwanese origin, with some working as US defense contractors.

Ji also enlisted in the US Army Reserves in 2016 under a program that recruits foreign nationals with skills deemed essential to the national interest.

He had lied in his application and in an interview, Ji said he had not had contact with a foreign government in the last seven years.

Ji said that with his military ID, he could visit and take photos of the aircraft carrier. He also plans that if he gets US citizenship and security clearance, he will find work at the CIA, FBI, or NASA.

His goal was to become a cyber expert at one of the agencies so he would have access to all of their databases, including those containing scientific research, according to US officials.

US authorities said Ji had received his order from Xu Yanjun, a top MSS official who became the first Chinese intelligence officer to be extradited to the US for trial.

Last year Xu was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for plotting to steal trade secrets from US airlines and aerospace companies, including General Electric.