Defendants including an industry consultant
and a retired DuPont employee admitted
working for Pangang. But the case stalled
because prosecutors had no access to
Pangang Group and Chinese authorities
took no action.
MILITARY SPYING
U.S. prosecutors say the Communist Party
uses its military wing’s cyber warfare skills
to steal commercial secrets.
The People’s Liberation Army is regarded as,
along with the U.S. and Russian militaries, a
leader in research on breaking into or
disabling an enemy’s computer networks.
Security experts say hackers believed to be
Chinese soldiers or military contractors
have stolen secrets including product
designs, chemical processes and details of
commercial negotiations.
In 2014, five members of China’s military
cyber warfare unit were indicted on U.S.
industrial spying charges.
The following year, President Xi Jinping
agreed with President Barack Obama to
avoid using military resources to steal
commercial secrets. But the U.S. National
Security Agency said in November that
Beijing appeared to be violating its pledge.
In October, an employee of China’s main
spy agency was charged with trying to
steal trade secrets from U.S. aviation and
aerospace companies.