Two men suspected of being Chinese intelligence officers have been charged with attempting to obstruct a US criminal investigation and prosecution of Chinese tech giant Huawei.
abc.net.au reports that Guochun He and Zheng Wang are accused of trying to direct a person within the US government, whom they believed was a cooperator, to provide confidential information about the Justice Department's investigation.
It included information about witnesses, trial evidence and potential new charges.
The Justice Department said one of the defendants paid about US$61,000 for the information.
The department has issued arrest warrants for the pair, but it's not clear whether they will ever be taken into custody.
The cases were announced at a news conference that featured the heads of both the FBI and the Justice Department, a rare joint presence reflecting a concerted American show of force against Chinese intelligence efforts.
Washington has long accused Beijing of meddling in US political affairs and stealing secrets and intellectual property.
Attorney-General Merrick Garland also announced charges against four other Chinese nationals, accusing them of using the cover of an academic institute to try to procure sensitive technology and equipment as well as interfering with protests that "would have been embarrassing to the Chinese government". The Biden administration is investigating Huawei over concerns US mobile phone towers fitted with its gear could capture sensitive military information, according to sources.
Two more people were arrested and five others charged with harassing someone living in the US to return to China as part of what Beijing calls "Operation Fox Hunt".
[Source : abc.net.au]
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