NY Man Sentenced for Plotting to Steal Trade Secrets for China

The logo of U.S. giant General Electric is pictured on the Belfort plant, in eastern France, on March 29, 2021. (Sebastien Bozon/AFP via Getty Images)

A New York man was sentenced on Jan. 3 to two years in federal prison for conspiring to steal trade secrets from General Electric (GE) to benefit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Xiaoqing Zheng, 59, of Niskayuna, New York, was convicted of conspiracy to commit economic espionage following a four-week jury trial in March last year, the Department of Justice said in a statement.

U.S. District Judge Mae D'Agostino also ordered Zheng to pay a $7,500 fine and serve one year of post-imprisonment supervised release.

Zheng, an engineer specializing in turbine sealing technology, was an employee at GE Power in Schenectady, New York, from 2008 until the summer of 2018, the DOJ said.

Evidence presented at the trial, according to the DOJ, showed that Zheng and others in China conspired to steal trade secrets from GE related to the company’s ground- and aviation-based turbine technologies.

The evidence showed they intended to benefit the CCP and other foreign entities, such as China-based companies and universities engaging in research and development of the turbine parts.

Zheng was charged in April 2019 and was accused of having worked alongside a Chinese businessman named Zhaoxi Zhang to spy on GE to benefit the CCP. At the time, Zheng pleaded not guilty, while he was believed to be in China.

“This is a case of textbook economic espionage,” said Assistant Attorney General Matthew G. Olsen of the DOJ’s National Security Division. “Zheng exploited his position of trust, betrayed his employer and conspired with the government of China to steal innovative American technology. The Justice Department will hold accountable those who threaten our national security by conniving to steal valuable trade secrets on behalf of a foreign power.”

U.S. officials have said that the CCP poses the biggest long-term threat to U.S. economic and national security. They’ve also accused the CCP of having mounted outright efforts to steal U.S. technology; the regime has denied such allegations.

“American ingenuity is an integral part of the United States economic security—it is what has guided the U.S. to become the global leader, even as China seeks to topple our status,” said Alan E. Kohler Jr., assistant director of the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division. “Xiaoqing Zheng was a Thousand Talents Program member and willingly stole proprietary technology and sent it back to the PRC. Let today’s sentencing serve as a reminder that the FBI remains dedicated in our pursuit of those who collaborate with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and steal American trade secrets.”

The CCP’s Thousand Talents Program, which has been in place since December 2008, is a state-run recruitment program that targets foreign high-level academics and experts in the fields of science and technology to allegedly steal technology and know-how to benefit the CCP. Hundreds of similar operations also exist at the central and local government levels.

In November 2022, a Chinese national was sentenced to 20 years in prison after he was convicted of attempting to steal trade secrets from U.S. aviation companies for the CCP. Xu Yanjun, 42, was the first Chinese intelligence agent to be extradited to the United States to stand trial. He was lured into Belgium by an engineer who he had targeted for recruitment, after which he was transferred from Belgium to the United States. He was found guilty in November 2021, a year prior to his sentencing.