Chinese woman admits to helping Pentagon-linked spying
Posted: 29 May 2008 0223 hrs

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WASHINGTON: A Chinese woman pleaded guilty in a US court on Wednesday to helping to spy for Beijing in a Pentagon-linked espionage case, the Justice Department said.

Yu Xin Kang, 33, admitted to "aiding and abetting" a Taiwanese-American, Tai Shen Kuo, who had earlier pleaded guilty to spying for China involving sensitive military secrets.

Businessman Kuo had obtained secret information from Pentagon weapons systems policy analyst Gregg William Bergersen and passed them to a Chinese government official, court documents have shown.

Kuo faces life imprisonment while Bergersen, who had also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to disclose national defence information to unauthorised persons, faces up to 10 years in jail.

Kang, a Chinese citizen and US permanent resident, also faces up to a decade in prison when she is sentenced on August 1.

She assisted Kuo by "serving as a conduit for information" between him and the Chinese government official, the Justice Department said.

Kuo was said to have met with the Chinese official inside Kang's Beijing apartment, and on at least one occasion, left a sealed envelope containing US Defence Department documents there for retrieval by the official.

The successful prosecution "should serve as a warning to others seeking to steal America's military secrets for the benefit of foreign powers," Patrick Rowan, acting assistant attorney general for national security, said earlier this month.

China's foreign secret service is among the "most aggressive" in trying to steal sensitive US military technology and information, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell has charged. - AFP/de