Who is Yanjun Xu, first Chinese intelligence officer convicted of plotting to steal US aviation trade secrets?

The Chinese intelligence officer named Yanjun Xu is a deputy director of a foreign intelligence branch of China's Ministry of State Security and was the first Chinese intelligence officer to be extradited to the US and convicted.

New Delhi: In a  move that will surely shake up the world and set a positive precedence for the future, a federal jury in Cincinnati has found a Chinese intelligence officer guilty of conspiring to and attempting to commit economic espionage and stealing trade secrets. The Chinese intelligence officer named Yanjun Xu is a deputy director of a foreign intelligence branch of China's Ministry of State Security and was the first Chinese intelligence officer to be extradited to the US and convicted. Xu was extradited from Belgium in 2018 and his trial began on October 19, 2021.

It has long been speculated and known that the Chinese government carries out espionage operations to gain trade secrets, technology, and expertise from other advanced countries like the US and European countries. Huawei, a telecom giant from China has repeatedly been exposed for using underhanded means for gaining access to restricted technology and is one of the reasons why Huawei and ZTE have been blacklisted by many nations across the globe. 

The reason that this arrest and conviction was such a hallmark is that this is the first Chinese intelligence official to be extradited to the United States for trial and convicted and also this arrest directly ties the Chinese government to espionage operations and will likely be used for decades as proof of the Chinese Communist Party's approach to steal technology from other nations.