FBI observer says China-linked economic espionage cases jumped by 1300% in past 10 years

In ar jolt against Chinese aggression, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday revealed that y witnessed a 1300% jump in China-linked ecomic espion in past 10 years. According to a report titled "Military and Security Development Involving People's Republic of China, 2021", FBI in 2020 opened a new China-related counterintelligence department in which officials registered about one case every 10 hours. Christopher Wray, FBI Director, had stated that "of nearly 5,000 active FBI counterintelligence cases currently underway (in 2020), almost half are related to China," according to a report.

"Multiple US criminal indictments since 2015 involve Chinese nationals, naturalised US citizens or permanent resident aliens from PRC, and US citizens, procuring and exporting controlled items to China, according to a US Department of Justice summary of major US export enforcement, ecomic espion, and sanctions-related criminal cases," it said. China's efforts to acquire sensitive, dual-use or military-grade equipment included radiation-hardened integrated circuits, molithic microwave integrated circuits, accelerometers, gyroscopes, naval and marine techlogies, syntactic foam trade secrets, communications, military communication jamming equipment and ors, read report.

Chinese man sentenced to 36 months in federal custody

It is worth mentioning a Chinese national in United States pled guilty of conspiring to fraudulently export maritime raiding craft and engines to China on September 20. US military uses se vessels and multi-fuel engines because y can be launched from a submerged submarine, or dropped into ocean by an aircraft. "In June 2020, a Chinese national in US was sentenced to 36 months in federal custody for attempting to send to China an export controlled radio, which is designated as a defence article due to its certification by National Security ncy for top-secret wire and data communications," report released by Pentagon added.

FBI raided Chinese tech firm for facilitating cyberattacks

Apart from ecomic espion cases, FBI also revealed involvement of Chinese companies in cyberattacks. On October 27, ncy had raided a prominent Chinese tech firm called Pax Techlogy for allegedly facilitating cyberattacks on various American and European targets. According to a report by Gizmodo, a swarm of FBI nts raided Florida offices of Pax Techlogy - a manufacturer of payment terminals, PIN pads, and point of sale hardware and software. Citing a report by WOKV news, media report said that FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and or ncy officials were investigating business's warehouse in Jacksonville. 

(With inputs from ANI)

Im: AP