WASHINGTON — The US government charged six Chinese nationals with economic espionage, saying they stole secrets from two companies that develop technology often used in military systems, the Department of Justice said on Tuesday. It was the third time in as many years that US authorities have made accusations of economic espionage conducted on behalf of China, a sign that the United States is increasingly focused on what it has termed a top national security concern. The charges against the six could exacerbate tensions between China and the United States, coming two days after US Secretary of State John Kerry's China visit was overshadowed by concerns over Beijing's maritime ambitions in the South China Sea. “The Chinese government expresses strong concern about the relevant matter and we are checking further details,” China's Foreign Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told reporters at a regular press briefing. Hong declined to comment when asked whether the case would undermine Sino-US relations, but said the Chinese government would make sure that the “legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese personnel are guaranteed.” One of the suspects, Professor Hao Zhang, 36, was arrested on Saturday in Los Angeles after he arrived on a flight from China, the Justice Department said in a statement. The other five suspects are believed to be in China. Zhang and two other professors from Tianjin University were charged with stealing source code and other proprietary information from chipmakers Avago Technologies Ltd and Skyworks Solutions Inc, where two of them worked. Avago has headquarters in San Jose, California and Singapore, and Skyworks is based in Woburn, Massachusetts. Zhang, a former Skyworks employee, and others established a company, ROFS Microsystems, at Tianjin with secrets stolen from the US firms, prosecutors said. Calls to ROFS Microsystems went unanswered on Wednesday. Tianjin University organized an immediate investigation, an employee from the university's publicity department told Reuters by phone. He declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to media. “The current investigation is still under way,” he said, adding that the school would issue an official response soon. State-backed Tianjin University, which was founded in 1895 as Northern University, is China's oldest institution of higher learning, according to its website. The ruling Communist Party's Central Committee, a council of some 200 senior officials who meet about once a year, identified the school “as a national key university” in 1959, the website said. Prosecutors identified the other five suspects as Wei Pang, 35, a former Avago employee and a professor; Jinping Chen, 41, a professor and a member of the board of directors for ROFS Microsystems; Chong Zhou, 26, a Tianjin University graduate student and design engineer at ROFS Microsystems; Huisui Zhang, 34, who studied with Pang and Zhang; and Zhao Gang, 39, who is the general manager of ROFS Microsystems. According to the indictment, Pang and Zhang met while studying electrical engineering at University of Southern California and took jobs as engineers at Avago and Skyworks, respectively. Both companies specialize in Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR) technology, which is primarily used in mobile devices like cellphones, tablets and GPS devices, but also has military applications. — Reuters
