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Fight against pests: "Ordinary, isolated incident"
Photo: Martin Wagner / IMAGO
A Chinese citizen has admitted industrial espionage in the USA against the agricultural giant Monsanto, which is now part of the German Bayer Group.
The 44-year-old imaging scientist Xiang Haitao pleaded guilty to the conspiracy to conduct industrial espionage for China on Thursday, according to the US Department of Justice.
According to the Justice Department, Xiang stole software developed by Monsanto to help farmers improve their crop yields.
Xiang worked for Monsanto and its subsidiary The Climate Corporation between 2008 and 2017.
Xiang admitted that he "stole a Monsanto trade secret, transferred it to a memory card and tried to bring it to the People's Republic of China for the benefit of the Chinese government," said Assistant Attorney General Matthew Olsen.
When Xiang was indicted by the US authorities in 2019, the Chinese State Department said that Washington was trying to use the case to back up its allegations of industrial espionage against China.
It was an "ordinary, isolated incident" that the US government was trying to play up, spokesman Geng Shuang said at the time.
If sentenced on April 7th, Xiang could face up to 15 years in prison and a possible fine of five million dollars.
mik / AFP