Shu Yuanjie, who had come under the guise of a scientific exchange program, was arrested by Ukraine’s security unit, while he was attempting to get his hands on Kyiv’s classified rocket and space industry projects
@Kunal_Chonkar
New Delhi: In major news bringing to light the extent of Chinese foreign intelligence and espionage operations carried out under the guise of scientific-educational exchange programs, a court in Ukraine has decided to continue the imprisonment of a Beijing national arrested on charges of high-level spying.
The development has not only dented China’s plan to expand its influence in the Balkan region, instrumented under the cover of COVID-19 relief supplies, but also tipped other nations to check their various ‘friendly’ exchange programs carried out with Chinese intellectuals and academicians.
According to reports, the High Court of Ukraine on August 28 reinforced the imprisonment of a Chinese citizen, who was arrested on charges of spying. A statement from the Prosecutor-General’s office read that the verdict announced on the Chinese national, who was sentenced to 10 years in jail for espionage remains unchanged.
The statement, available with TheNews21 reads, ‘It was proven in court that the professor of the Xi’an Modern Chemistry Research Institute had conducted spying activity in the Dnipropetrovsk Region. He organized the collection of scientific, technical and technological documents in the area of military missile development in the region in order to send classified information to a foreign organization.’
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The case involves Chinese national Shu Yuanjie, who was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage in March. As per the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Shu Yuanjie was arrested, while attempting to collect information under the guise of a Ukraine-China scientific exchange program.
“The SBU was tracking his movements, following a tip-off from Ukraine’s foreign intelligence unit. The personal record shows that Yuanjie had completed post-graduate studies at the Chinese Academy of Military Science and Physical-Chemical Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Russia. He had worked for a military-industrial corporation specializing in munition production as well as for the Xi’an Modern Chemistry Research Institute. For a high performance at this work, Yuanjie was also granted the first-degree Award of the Defence Ministry of the PRC,” a senior intelligence analyst from Kyiv told TheNews21 on the phone.
The analyst, specializing in Chinese polit-bureau, said that Yuanjie had come to Ukraine on a business trip in early 2020. However, during his trip, under the pretext of selecting exchange scholars, he started the confidential recruitment of a group of Ukrainian scientists.
“Reports indicate that he offered these scientists a handsome monetary reward, by setting their foreign fund accounts in a bank in Beijing. He was attempting to get his hands on Ukraine’s classified projects of rocket and space industry,” the analyst informed. However, little did Yuanjie realize the was being tracked by the SBU operatives, who caught him during a raid in his attempt to obtain classified papers.
