Researcher Guan Lei charged in US over ties to Chinese military

Chinese ­researcher Guan Lei at the University of California has been charged with destroying evidence.

A Chinese academic has been arrested after the FBI suspects he transferred senstive information from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), pictured above, to high-ranking military officials.

A Chinese ­researcher at the University of California has been charged with destroying evidence, the latest Chinese national to face accusations of trying to conceal ties to China’s military or government institutions.

Guan Lei, 29, is under investigation for possibly transferring sensitive US software or technical data to China’s National University of Defence Technology and falsely denying his association with the Chinese military when he applied for a visa in 2018.

Mr Guan could face a fine, a maximum prison sentence of 20 years, or both if convicted.

The US Department of Justice alleges Mr Guan threw a damaged hard drive into a dumpster near his home outside Los Angeles on July 25. FBI agents recovered the damaged hard drive after Mr Guan refused a request to examine his computer.

The Justice Department has stepped up a crackdown on Chinese researchers amid rising tensions between the two countries over theft of intellectual property, trade and the coronavirus epidemic.

Mr Guan is suspected of committed visa fraud, with the FBI saying he possibly transferred “sensitive software or technical data” from UCLA, where he studied machine-learning algorithms in the school’s mathematics department, to “high-ranking” officials in the Chinese military, FBI agent Timothy Hunt wrote in an affidavit.

Mr Guan was ordered detained at a court hearing on Friday and will next appear on September 17.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian. Picture: AFP

Earlier on Friday, China’s foreign ministry spoke about the case of Juan Tang, another Chinese researcher charged with visa fraud and concealing her military service.

“China’s position on US law enforcement authorities acts to harass or even detain Chinese students is consistent,” ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in Beijing. “We will take all necessary measures to protect the legal interests and rights of Chinese citizens.”

Mr Guan allegedly lied about how many hard drives and digital storage devices he had when he was first interviewed by the FBI last month, according to an FBI affidavit.

Days later, he tried to board a flight to China but was prevented by US officials. Several days after that, FBI agents saw Mr Guan wandering around his apartment building and throwing the hard drive into a dumpster.

The hard drive was intentionally destroyed and all the data on it had been removed “deliberately and by force”. The destroyed hard drive was similar type to one that was in Mr Guan’s laptop computer, the agent said.

Mr Guan previously attended the National University of ­Defence Technology in China, one of three universities overseen by the country’s military, Agent Hurt wrote in the affidavit. Mr Guan told agents that as a student, he occasionally wore a uniform on state holidays and underwent some military training that involved “a lot of walking, running and standing”. But he insisted that he was just a “normal student” and not a military officer.

Since the arrest in June of Xin Wang, a researcher at the University of California San Francisco, Chinese authorities have told alleged military officers studying at US colleges to destroy evidence and co-ordinated attempts to spirit them out of the country, one prosecutor wrote in a court filing.

US authorities say that, unknown to State Department officials who granted him a visa, Mr Wang holds a rank in the Chinese military that corresponds to a major in the US armed forces.

FBI agents had asked Mr Guan whether he had discussed Mr Wang’s arrest with anyone at a Chinese consulate.

“Isn’t he a soldier?” Mr Guan told the agents, according to the affidavit. “I am not in the same category as him. Plus, the internet says Wang was stealing information. I am here openly, you can search my stuff.”