Activist Admits Sending China Technology . . .

Activist Admits Sending China Technology

Thursday, November 27, 2003

(3:49 AM ET)

By Curt Anderson

Associated Press Writer

U.S. Customs officials were tipped to the scheme in fall 2000 by a company that had found no connection between the university and the ``Gail Heights'' that had placed an order for electronic parts that fall under U.S. government export controls. A search of Gao's home revealed contracts for similar parts with a variety of Chinese entities with ties to China's military, including China National, Incom Import & Export Co. and Nanjing Institute of Radio Technology, according to court documents.

WASHINGTON -- AP
Gao Zhan was a celebrated human rights activist and scholar whose imprisonment by the Chinese was opposed at the highest levels of the U.S. government. It turns out that she also was selling sensitive American technology to China.

Gao, who was born in China but is a U.S. resident living in McLean, Va., pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of unlawful export for selling 80 microprocessors. She also pleaded guilty to tax evasion, as did her husband, Xue Donghua.

``The technology exported in this case is tightly controlled for good reason: It can be used in sensitive military systems,'' said Kevin Delli-Colli, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent. The Defense Criminal Investigative Service also was involved in the case.

Gao could face up to 10 years in prison, with sentencing set for March 5. But prosecutors say she could get a more lenient sentence if she continues to cooperate with investigators trying to identify others involved in exports of sensitive goods to China. Xue, who could face up to a year in prison, also agreed to cooperate.

A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington declined to comment.

Gao gained international attention when she was arrested in China on Feb. 11, 2001, on charges of spying for Taiwan. She and her husband and their 5-year-old son were about to return to the United States following a visit when they were seized by government agents.

(More: Netscape Network News with CNN)

2003 © The Associated Press.

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* The U.S. Department of Justice

Personally, I see no real reason to pull a newsworthy thread, just because the originator admits he made an error in his own comments. The HZ is based upon comments, correct, erroneous, corrected -- and otherwise.

Dan