In a recent development, the Tokyo District Court sentenced Chinese researcher Quan Hengdao to 2 years and 6 months in prison and imposed a fine of 2 million Japanese yen for leaking trade secrets.
According to reports from Kyodo News on February 25, Quan Hengdao, a former senior researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), was found guilty of violating Japan’s Unfair Competition Prevention Act by disclosing research data to a Chinese company.
The court found that Quan Hengdao, while serving as a senior researcher at AIST in April 2018, leaked synthesis technology research data of fluorine compounds to a company in China via email, leading to his indictment. The recipient of the leaked information was a company in Beijing, China.
It was revealed in the court proceedings that Quan Hengdao’s wife acted as the representative of the Chinese company that received the emails. The court determined that without Quan Hengdao’s ID and password, his computer could not be accessed, and if left unattended, the computer would automatically lock, indicating that the emails sent were from him.
The court classified the research data transferred by Quan Hengdao as a trade secret, particularly valuable for its efficient synthesis technology research on insulating gas chemical substances with minimal impact on global warming. The accused intended to apply this technology within the Chinese company represented by his wife. The court emphasized the intentional nature and complexity of the crime, stating it was highly planned and malicious.
AIST is a national research and development organization in Japan, one of the largest public research institutions in the country, with 12 research bases and around 2,300 researchers engaged in cutting-edge research and development.
A former employee who worked at AIST, known by the alias “Li Ming,” mentioned his interaction with Quan Hengdao, describing him as untrustworthy and potentially having affiliations with the Chinese Communist Party. Li Ming also indicated concerns about the extent of technology secrets Quan Hengdao might have leaked to China due to his frequent visits there.
In recent years, there have been several incidents in Japan where companies have been apprehensive about leaking proprietary information to China, especially concerning advanced technological secrets.
One such case involved Ryuzo Yazaki, a Japanese engineer arrested in June 2019 for allegedly violating the Unfair Competition Prevention Act. He had left his previous workplace in Kyoto and joined a company in China, where he was accused of engaging in industrial espionage activities. Yazaki confessed to taking plagiarized technical data to the Chinese company.
Another case in June 2019 saw a Chinese former employee, Shen Yonghui, sentenced to 1 year and 2 months in prison and fined 300,000 Japanese yen by the Nagoya District Court for acquiring trade secrets.
Driven by the pressures of global competition, Shen Yonghui misused his access to technical data at his workplace to duplicate sensitive information, emphasizing the severity of his criminal accountability.
The issue of leaking technical secrets to China is not limited to Japan. In South Korea, similar cases came to light, where individuals faced legal actions for transferring valuable technical information to Chinese entities.
One such instance from February 19 saw a former Samsung Electronics executive, Kim, indicted for disclosing semiconductor technology to China, leading to a 7-year prison sentence and a fine. Kim’s case, along with four other defendants, received varying prison terms for their involvement.
These cases highlight the escalating concerns surrounding the leakage of critical technology secrets to China, raising alarms in both Japan and South Korea.