Chinese police have detained a US automotive engineer since November last year on accusations he misused trade secrets — the latest case of vague secrecy laws being used against an American in China.
Hu Zhicheng (胡志成), a prize-winning designer of industrial catalysts to control auto emissions, has had letters from his family censored and has been denied reading materials during his detention in Tianjin, the US embassy in Beijing said. Last week police rejected an Old Testament he asked US consular officers to bring him.
The stern treatment is being meted out in a business dispute over an automobile technology. Hu told US officials that investigators have threatened him with multimillion-dollar fines unless he gives the rights to his US-registered patent to a former business partner in Tianjin.
Hu’s wife, Li Hong, a China-born naturalized American like her husband, said Tianjin authorities’ real target is a China-based company she managed and whose cutting-edge products competed with those of the former business partner, the Hysci (Tianjin) Specialty Materials Co.
Hysci, she said, complained that her startup was developing products unusually fast, prompting the trade secrets investigation.
“You don’t sue someone just because you think their R&D is too fast,” said Li, who lives in the Los Angeles area with their two teenage children. “This case is being conducted illegally.”
The US embassy said prosecutors have twice sent the case back to police for further investigation — often a sign the evidence is insufficient for an indictment.
Hysci declined to comment, as did the Chinese company that employed Hu at the time of his detention. Prosecutors referred inquiries to the Tianjin police. The police information office said the criminal investigation is continuing but refused to elaborate other than to say “it is a complicated case.”
A holder of nine patents in the US, Hu is just the kind of emigre Beijing has been eager to lure back to bolster an economy growing rapidly but short of talented managers and innovators. He has done research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as well as for multinationals in the US and Japan.
Yet, Hu’s predicament shows how powerful vested interests marshal law enforcement agencies to pressure foreign business executives, especially those like Hu, who were once Chinese citizens but now hold foreign passports.
Hu’s detention comes amid other similar prosecutions of China-born foreign nationals. In recent months, Australian national Stern Hu (胡士泰) — an executive with the global mining giant Rio Tinto — was detained on state secrets charges that were later reduced to infringing trade secrets.
Another China-born, naturalized American, geologist Xue Feng (薛峰), disappeared into custody two years ago and has been put on trial for passing on state secrets — for arranging the purchase of a detailed commercial database on the Chinese oil and gas industry.
All three cases involve industries Beijing deems vital to China’s economic security.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
The China Coast Guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the US which Beijing has slammed as destabilizing. The Chinese coast guard