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

In another jolt against Chinese aggression, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on Thursday revealed that they witnessed a 1300% jump in China-linked economic espionage in the past 10 years. According to a report titled "Military and Security Development Involving the People's Republic of China, 2021", the FBI in 2020 opened a new China-related counterintelligence department in which the officials registered about one case every 10 hours. Christopher Wray, FBI Director, had stated that "of the 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 the PRC, and the US citizens, procuring and exporting controlled items to China, according to a US Department of Justice summary of major US export enforcement, economic espionage, and sanctions-related criminal cases," it said. China's efforts to acquire sensitive, dual-use or military-grade equipment included radiation-hardened integrated circuits, monolithic microwave integrated circuits, accelerometers, gyroscopes, naval and marine technologies, syntactic foam trade secrets, space communications, military communication jamming equipment and others, read the report.

Chinese man sentenced to 36 months in federal custody

It is worth mentioning a Chinese national in the United States pled guilty of conspiring to fraudulently export maritime raiding craft and engines to China on September 20. The US military uses these vessels and multi-fuel engines because they can be launched from a submerged submarine, or dropped into the ocean by an aircraft. "In June 2020, a Chinese national in the 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 the National Security Agency for top-secret wire and data communications," the report released by Pentagon added.

FBI raided Chinese tech firm for facilitating cyberattacks

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

(With inputs from ANI)

Image: AP