Report: Beijing Illegally Bought Circuits
NewsMax.com Wires
Thursday. May 23, 2001
WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities have uncovered a major
Chinese technology transfer program that illegally purchased thousands of
U.S. radiation-protected computer chips for use in Chinese missiles and
satellites, The Washington Times reported Thursday.
The company, Means Come Enterprises Inc., is under investigation for
"illegally exporting radiation-hardened integrated circuits to [the People´s
Republic of China] without the required [Commerce Department] export
licenses," according to documents obtained by the newspaper.
The military-related technology-buying program was revealed in court
papers released in Orlando, Fla., earlier this month after a raid on a
Chinese company involved in selling "radiation-hardened" integrated circuits
to Chinese government missile and satellite manufacturers.
Commerce Department, U.S. Customs Service and Postal Service agents raided
the Orlando offices of Means Come on May 3, seizing computers and documents
related to the microchip transfers.
The raid took place the same day FBI agents arrested two Chinese nationals
and a third man for stealing Lucent Technologies software codes and selling
them to China, The Times said.
In October 1998, Means Come officials in Florida were questioned about the
circuit exports and other weapons-related technology sales. One company
executive, Francis Chan, was questioned by Commerce export control agents
and told them the company recently sought to purchase "U.S.-origin nuclear
electronics for export to the PRC."
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
All rights reserved.
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