A Chinese national with links to Taiwan has been charged in the US with trying to illegally buy vast quantities of a highly restricted material used in the manufacture of fighter planes. It is believed that the material — an aerospace-grade carbon fiber — is needed by Beijing in order to develop its fifth generation fighter known as the J-XX.
Zhang Ming Suan (張明算), 40, is being held in custody without bail, while a Taiwanese couple remain under investigation in Taipei.
According to court papers, the case began five months ago after the Taiwanese couple contacted a Web site which was purporting to sell aerospace technology. When they were told that an export license would be needed to buy the carbon fiber they had requested, the couple said they wanted to sidestep that process. The couple were unaware that the Web site was actually being run by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and was part of an international “sting” operation.
Following the initial approach, telephone lines used by the couple were monitored. US agents refuse to say if the monitoring was conducted by Taiwanese authorities, but that appears to have been the case. As a result of the monitoring, agents learned that the couple was acting as a go-between for Zhang, who lived in Quanzhou, Fujian Province.
Zhang told a judge in Brooklyn Federal Court this week: “I am innocent.”
Sources close to the prosecution told the Taipei Times that few details were being released due to the “extreme sensitivity” of the case.
Carbon fiber can increase the strength and stealth capabilities of military aircraft, but details of its manufacture are kept strictly secret and Beijing is believed to have suffered a number of failures in its efforts to reproduce the product.
Prosecutors are refusing to reveal where and when Zhang was arrested, but one source indicated that it was last week in New York. He was lured to the US as part of the sting operation.
Zhang told the Taiwanese couple he wanted to buy carbon fiber without an export license for use in the manufacture of sports equipment.
In a call intercepted in July this year, Zhang said: “When I place the order, I place one for one or two tons.”
The carbon fiber involved sells for about US$2 million dollars a ton.
Court papers say that an undercover Homeland Security agent e-mailed Zhang inviting him to the US to discuss a deal and Zhang told the agent the carbon fiber was needed for the test flight of a fighter plane on Oct. 5.
Prosecutors said Zhang told Homeland Security agents he had an “urgent need for the carbon fiber in connection with the scheduled test flight of a Chinese fighter plane.”
Zhang is alleged to have told the agent that before buying a large quantity of the carbon fiber on offer he would need a sample to send back to China for testing. He was arrested when he arrived at a prearranged meeting place to pick up the sample.
Court-appointed lawyer Daniel Nobel said that Zhang was “an honest businessman who was caught up in something he didn’t really understand.”
Military experts have said that China is particularly anxious to obtain the sort of carbon fiber that would aid in the stealth design of its J-XX stealth fighter.
“It is very effective at making a plane totally invisible to radar,” Gary Hufbauer, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said in an interview with the New York Post.
US Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent-in-Charge James Hayes said: “This technology in the wrong hands poses a serious threat to our national security.”
If found guilty, Zhang faces a maximum prison sentence of twenty years.
The Ministry of Education (MOE) is to launch a new program to encourage international students to stay in Taiwan and explore job opportunities here after graduation, Deputy Minister of Education Yeh Ping-cheng (葉丙成) said on Friday. The government would provide full scholarships for international students to further their studies for two years in Taiwan, so those who want to pursue a master’s degree can consider applying for the program, he said. The fields included are science, technology, engineering, mathematics, semiconductors and finance, Yeh added. The program, called “Intense 2+2,” would also assist international students who completed the two years of further studies in
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) departed for Europe on Friday night, with planned stops in Lithuania and Denmark. Tsai arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport on Friday night, but did not speak to reporters before departing. Tsai wrote on social media later that the purpose of the trip was to reaffirm the commitment of Taiwanese to working with democratic allies to promote regional security and stability, upholding freedom and democracy, and defending their homeland. She also expressed hope that through joint efforts, Taiwan and Europe would continue to be partners building up economic resilience on the global stage. The former president was to first
Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Monday called for greater cooperation between Taiwan, Lithuania and the EU to counter threats to information security, including attacks on undersea cables and other critical infrastructure. In a speech at Vilnius University in the Lithuanian capital, Tsai highlighted recent incidents in which vital undersea cables — essential for cross-border data transmission — were severed in the Taiwan Strait and the Baltic Sea over the past year. Taiwanese authorities suspect Chinese sabotage in the incidents near Taiwan’s waters, while EU leaders have said Russia is the likely culprit behind similar breaches in the Baltic. “Taiwan and our European
The Taipei District Court sentenced babysitters Liu Tsai-hsuan (劉彩萱) and Liu Jou-lin (劉若琳) to life and 18 years in prison respectively today for causing the death of a one-year-old boy in December 2023. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said that Liu Tsai-hsuan was entrusted with the care of a one-year-old boy, nicknamed Kai Kai (剴剴), in August 2023 by the Child Welfare League Foundation. From Sept. 1 to Dec. 23 that year, she and her sister Liu Jou-lin allegedly committed acts of abuse against the boy, who was rushed to the hospital with severe injuries on Dec. 24, 2023, but did not
RSS