Chinese businessman Qin Shuren gets 2 years in jail for exporting US marine tech to China
- The marine biologist illegally exported devices called hydrophones, which have applications in anti-submarine warfare
- The items were sold to Northwestern Polytechnical University, a Chinese military research institute involved in underwater drone projects
A Chinese businessman was sentenced on Wednesday to two years in prison after admitting that he illegally exported marine technology with uses in anti-submarine warfare from the United States for the benefit of a Chinese military university.
Qin Shuren, who founded a company that sold oceanographic instruments, was sentenced by US District Judge Denise Casper in Boston after admitting he illegally exported devices called hydrophones that can be used to monitor sound underwater.
Prosecutors had sought 7½ years in prison for Qin, who must also pay a US$20,000 fine. His guilty plea was conditional, allowing him to appeal a ruling by Casper to not suppress the evidence against him.
The marine biologist was charged in 2018 amid rising US concerns about China’s national security threat, a continued focus of the Biden administration. Qin, 45, had already served three months in jail after his arrest.
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Defence lawyers said he founded LinkOcean Technologies in China in 2005 to provide oceanographic instruments to scientists, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 2014 as a permanent resident.