New York

An employee of General Electric (GE) was handed a two-year jail sentence on Tuesday (January 4) for conspiring to steal the company's trade secrets to benefit China

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

District Judge Mae D'Agostino also slapped a fine of USD 7500 on Zheng. He will also serve one year of post-imprisonment supervised release.

As US officials have underlined in the past, the Chinese government poses biggest long-term threat to US economic and national security. They say that China is taking unprecedented efforts  to steal critical technology from U.S. businesses and researchers. These allegations have been denied by China.

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Zheng was employed at GE Power in Schenectady, New York, as an engineer specializing in turbine sealing technology. He worked at GE from 2008 until the summer of 2018, the Justice Department said.

The trial evidence showed Zheng and others in China conspired to steal GE's trade secrets surrounding its ground-based and aviation-based turbine technologies to benefit China, including China-based companies and universities that research and manufacture parts for turbines, the Justice Department added.

"This is a case of textbook economic espionage. Zheng exploited his position of trust, betrayed his employer and conspired with the government of China to steal innovative American technology," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen of the Justice Department's national security division.

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(With inputs from agencies)

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