A Chinese engineer has been jailed for eight years for spying in the US, in a case linked to Chinese efforts to steal aviation trade secrets.
Ji Chaoqun, 31, had identified scientists and engineers for possible recruitment, according to the US Department of Justice.
He also enlisted in the US Army Reserves and lied to recruiters.
US authorities said Ji worked under the direction of a key Chinese state intelligence unit.
Last September he was convicted for acting as an agent of a foreign government without notifying the US attorney-general – a charge used in espionage cases – and of making false statements to the US Army.
Ji had arrived in the US on a student visa a decade ago, according to a Justice Department statement.
He was accused of supplying information to the Jiangsu Province Ministry of State Security (JSSD) about eight individuals for possible recruitment.
The individuals are all naturalised US citizens who were originally from China or Taiwan, with some working as US defence contractors.
Ji also enlisted in the US Army Reserves in 2016 under a programme that recruits foreign nationals with skills considered vital to national interest. He had lied in his application and in an interview that he had not had contact with a foreign government within the past seven years, said US officials.
Ji was eventually arrested in September 2018 after he met with an undercover US law enforcement agent who posed as a representative of China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS).
