Posted on 02/09/2006 4:07:45 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A Taiwanese citizen was charged in the United States on Thursday with being a covert agent for Beijing, and accused together with a Frenchman of trying to illegally export an F-16 jet engine, Blackhawk helicopter engines and cruise missiles to China.
U.S. prosecutors in Miami said a federal grand jury had returned a nine-count indictment against Ko-Suen Moo, of Taipei, and Maurice Serge Voros, of Paris.
The indictment alleged that the defendants violated the Arms Export Control Act by trying to export controlled items without a license to China, including the engines, the cruise missiles and air-to-air missiles, the prosecutors said.
The case follows repeated U.S. expressions of concern about Beijing's strategic intentions as China increasingly pours proceeds from its rapidly expanding economy into its military.
Chinese war capabilities are growing at a pace expected to soon upset a delicate military balance between China and rival Taiwan, which relies on U.S. weaponry to defend itself.
"This case highlights the national security threat posed when agents of a foreign government seek to illegally acquire and export American military weaponry," said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta.
"We will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute foreign agents whose motives and actions are, by definition, detrimental do the United States and our national security," he said in a statement released by the Justice Department.
RISING CHINA CONCERNS
A Pentagon spokesman refused to comment specifically on the Miami case, saying it was a Justice Department matter.
But he added: "We are aware that there are continuing efforts on the part of China to obtain U.S. technology," Navy Lt. Cmdr. Greg Hicks told Reuters in Washington.
A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Washington was not immediately available for comment.
A spokesman for Taiwan, which has an unofficial economic office in the U.S. capital in the absence of formal diplomatic ties with the United States, declined to comment.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 after a civil war brought the communists to power on the mainland. Beijing has vowed to attack if Taiwan formally declares statehood -- a fight that could embroil the United States as Taiwan's traditional backer.
Last week, the Pentagon, in a new long-range strategy blueprint, called China the rising power with the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States. The strategy calls for new long-range weapons and a greater U.S. naval presence in the Pacific.
Moo was also charged with being a covert agent of the People's Republic of China, and with bribery, obstruction of justice and money laundering for offering $500,000, through an intermediary, to be released.
Moo had been detained but Voros remained at large, prosecutors said. The defendants face up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
According to the indictment, Moo traveled to the United States on two occasions and actually inspected an F-16 aircraft engine. The engine was to be flown to an airstrip in China.
"In the post-9/11 world, keeping sensitive U.S. military components from falling into the wrong hands has never been more important," Jesus Torres, Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Miami, said in a statement.
(Additional reporting by Deborah Charles and Charles Aldinger)
They caught two, how many did they miss... these guys are the fall guys...
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