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2 Spy Cases With Links To China Lead To Arrests

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By LARA JAKES JORDAN, The Associated Press

Published: February 12, 2008

WASHINGTON - A Defense Department analyst and a former engineer for Boeing Co. were charged Monday in separate spy cases accused of handing over military secrets to the Chinese government, the Justice Department said.

Additionally, two immigrants from China and Taiwan accused of working with the defense analyst were arrested after an FBI raid Monday morning on a New Orleans home where one of them lived.

The two cases - based in Alexandria, Va., and Los Angeles - have no connection, and investigators said it was merely a coincidence that charges would be brought against both on the same day.

The arrests mark China's latest attempts to gain top secret information about U.S. military systems and sales, said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Wainstein.

In the first case, prosecutors said weapons systems policy analyst Gregg W. Bergersen, 51, of Alexandria, Va., sold classified defense information to a New Orleans furniture salesman. In return, the salesman, a Taiwan native identified as Tai Kuo, a 58-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, forwarded the information to the Chinese government.

The data outlined every planned U.S. sale of weapons or other military technology to Taiwan for the next five years, prosecutors said.

A third alleged conspirator in the case, Chinese national Yu Xin Kang, 33, served as the go-between for Kuo and the People's Republic of China, prosecutors say.

Tai Kuo was charged with conspiracy to deliver national defense information to a foreign government. He faces life in prison if convicted.

Kang, 33, who faces the same charges as Kuo, appeared briefly in federal court in New Orleans. But U.S. Magistrate Judge Louis Moore Jr. postponed the hearing until an interpreter could be brought in when it appeared Kang, who cried throughout, did not understand the charges.

In the second, unrelated case, former Boeing engineer Dongfan "Greg" Chung, 72, was charged with working as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government who stole trade secrets from the defense contractor. The stolen data largely focused on aerospace programs, including the space shuttle, prosecutors said.

Chung, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was indicted last week on espionage, conspiracy and obstructing justice charges that were unsealed Monday. He appeared briefly in court in Santa Ana, Calif., and posted $250,000 property bond.

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