A 47-year-old computer engineer has pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell highly classified US weapons technology — for possible use against Taiwan — to China.
Lian Yang of Woodinville, Washington, will be sentenced on June 30 for violating the Arms Export Control Act and could face up to five years in prison.
Yang was accused in a US District Court in Seattle of trying to obtain radiation-hardened military and aerospace technology for Beijing.
The technology, including 300 semiconductors, was said to have no purpose outside military or aerospace use.
US military sources said later that the technology was most likely for the guidance systems of China’s newest missiles (arrayed against Taiwan), for spy satellites and for Beijing’s next-generation space program.
The legal complaint against Yang said: “The parts are export restricted and require export license or approval from the US State Department. Yang contemplated creating a shell company in the US that would appear to be purchasing the parts, concealing the fact the parts were to be shipped to China. Yang planned that false purchase orders would be created indicating that parts that could legally be exported were being purchased, not restricted parts.”
As part of a major sting operation, Yang was arrested in December after he offered undercover FBI agents — posing as rogue scientists — a total of US$700,000 for the radiation-hardened semiconductors and other items.
Yang told one FBI source that he had “old school friends” in China who specialized in importing electronic components from the US.
Agents set up a bank account for the supposed deal and Yang paid into it a deposit of US$60,000.
He worked for Microsoft and traveled to China on a regular basis.
During private conversations over the last year, Yang told the undercover FBI agents that he had bought radiation-hardened semiconductors from Russia in the past, but that they had “quality-control issues.”
Throughout the sting operation, Yang was told repeatedly that the deal was seriously illegal.
Assistant US Attorney Thomas Woods told the court that the undercover agents offered to sell Yang a non-restricted version of the items he wanted, but that Yang insisted only the prohibited version would do.
Radiation-hardened items are engineered to function in outer space where natural radiation can “fry” computer circuitry. They contain extra transistors that take more energy to switch on and off.
“Cosmic rays can’t trigger them so easily,” NASA says.
Assistant US Attorney Todd Greenberg told the court: “Yang was aware of the nefarious purpose to which his contacts in China intended to put the parts he was attempting to acquire. His actions posed a serious threat to the US and its national security.”
The court was told that Yang was born in China and that he fled the country in 1988 for the US to avoid retribution for public statements he had made against the Beijing government.
Yang earned a graduate degree from Portland State University and started work at Microsoft in 1994.
He became a US citizen in 1999. He is married with two sons.
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