Chinese government theft of U.S. intellectual property remains a “significant risk”, with several high-profile cases in recent months, a security analyst has said.
Scott Tosi, an analyst at security consultancy Nisos Intelligence, told Newsweek that infiltration remains a threat in both business and universities.
Targets in recent years have included everything from artificial intelligence to car manufacture, but involve only a tiny fraction of the Chinese-born employees in the U.S. The FBI has been warning of the problem for at least a decade.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before the House Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party Committee on Capitol Hill on January 31, 2024 in Washington, D.C. The committee heard from intelligence officials on China’s cyber threat to the United States.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
“U.S.-employed Chinese national intellectual property theft continues to be a significant risk to both the private sector and academia,” Tosi said.
“As recently as March 2024, the DOJ charged California-based Chinese national Linwei Ding with stealing sensitive artificial intelligence (AI) technology from Google.”
The FBI raided Ding’s California home in January 2024 and allegedly found “more than 500 unique files containing Google Confidential Information.” Much of it related to a Google’s “supercomputer capable of executing at the cutting edge of machine learning and AI technology,” according to a subsequent indictment.
“In the past three years, the DOJ has brought charges against or convicted U.S.-based Chinese nationals with intellectual property theft of electric vehicle technology, silicon carbide semiconductor technology, automotive manufacturing equipment, and source code for autonomous vehicle technology,” Tosi said.
He added that the use of “skilled Chinese-national workers in the U.S. to gain placement and access to sensitive and critical technologies offers a low-risk, high-reward model” to the Chinese government.
This is especially true as the U.S. needs “highly technical and skilled workers to fill critical technology roles.”
In 2019, the FBI produced a guide for U.S. businesses titled, China – The Risk To Corporate America, in which it says that China first plots what technology it needs before figuring out how to steal it from foreign companies. It adds that there were then up to 100 plans in place to copy foreign technology.
“To achieve its strategic goals, China relies on various state-directed plans. These plans provide insight into the kinds of intellectual property and trade secrets the country targets and seeks to acquire from foreign sources.”
“At present, China’s government has as many as 100 plans guiding China’s foreign acquisition in science and technology, and their scale and influence are impressive. Two of the most important among these plans include the 13th Five-Year Plan and the Made in China 2025 Plan.”
Tosi made his comments in response to the case of Linda Sun, a former chief aide of New York Governor Kathy Hochul, who has been indicted as working as an agent for the Chinese government.
Prosecutors said Sun, who was born in China, influenced New York politics at the direction of Chinese government officials.
Among the many accusations in an indictment unsealed on September 3, Sun is alleged to have forged Hochul’s signature to make it easier for a Chinese Communist Party delegation to come to New York and to have a face-to-face meeting with the governor.
On September 4, Hochul expressed her outrage and shock at the news and said she had sought the dismissal of China’s former New York consul general for his alleged role in running Sun as an agent inside Hochul’s government.
“Lying and misleading these administrations, breaking our ethics rules, and even forging my signature on documents. But, even more importantly, this is a betrayal of New Yorkers and the American people,” Hochul said during a Manhattan news conference.
Newsweek sought email comment from Hochul’s office, China’s New York consulate and Sun’s attorney on Monday.
On Tuesday, the FBI arrested Sun and her husband, Christopher Hu, at their multimillion-dollar home on Long Island. Prosecutors said Sun earned millions from her illegal interference in U.S. politics.
The Chinese government allegedly paid Sun and Hu millions to influence New York politics, secretly funneling money to the couple to buy a 2024 Ferrari, an apartment in Hawaii and their five-bedroom house on Long Island, which the FBI raided in July.
