CHINA: Smuggling Intellectual Property – Bio Hazardous Virus’s and Economic Theft

Intellectual Property has been a topic of trade discussions and concern with respect to China.   Most of the media coverage regarding intellectual property revolves around music, movies, the entertainment industry, etc…   Something of a distraction. In reality, the true issue is much more frightening as it involves science, bio pharmaceuticals, bio hazards, diseases, drugs, nuclear data, etc…   In the past two months, the FBI and Justice Department have arrested or expelled a number of scientists from R&D universities in the US as it has been uncovered that they are smuggling vials, samples, and documents to China – routinely. The program that facilitates this is called, Thousand Talents Program.

Coincidentally, it was established in 2008 by the Chinese government and since its inception patent applications in China have more than tripled.

In essence the premise is twofold:   1.   Solicit a Chinese scientist to gain access to a US, Canadian, or EU University for the purpose of R&D – working pro bono, and   2. indoctrinate a US scientist through university programs, and offer a very lucrative salary and expense account so as to ‘finance’ their willingness to share their patents with China.

Technically, these scientists are required to share with their respective university of study that they are affiliated with Chinese companies, and the university is supposed to report those affiliations to the state or feds.   They haven’t.

Instead, it would appear that in addition to patented technology being shared, the universities have been accepting large ‘unreported’ sums from the Chinese government. Currently, Harvard and Yale are under investigation, however, there are literally hundreds of universities that are a part of the investigation. The threshold for reporting is $250,000, so the amount of money is significant and is estimated to be in the billions.

The Thousand Talents Program has been in operation for over a decade, coincidentally seeming to have been initiated during the Obama administration, and is now the subject of a massive investigation.   With the Wuhan Coronavirus making headlines, few media outlets discuss the possible links given the rumbling of either a purposeful outbreak, or an accidental one.   Another coincidence…

Xiangguo Qiu, a virologist, her husband, Keding Cheng, and Qui’s students were working at the National Microbiology Lab of Winnipeg, a level 4 Lab, without compensation. In 2017-2018, they made five trips to China’s Wuhan National BioSafety Lab.

The Wuhan Lab opened in 2015 to study deadly infectious diseases and pathogens, specifically SARS and Ebola, SARS is directly related to the Coronavirus.   According to a Rutgers molecular biologist, Richard Ebright, the SARS virus had escaped from the lab on multiple occasions due to lab technician errors.

It would appear that the Canadian virologist, Xiangguo Qui, is the most likely connection for the Coronavirus given:   1.   She was found to be smuggling virus’s from the Winnipeg Lab to China, and subsequently expelled along with her husband, and 2. She was not compensated by Canada, and thus likely part of the Thousand Talents Program.

While university officials claim that ‘sharing’ information is common, it presents a complicated tier of reporting – and certainly ‘smuggling’ is not a part of that tier.

Dr. Kang Zang was an ‘eye doctor’, or ophthalmologist, who worked at the University of California San Diego studying genetics. He set up multiple companies registered in the Cayman Islands and operating out of his Del Mar California home that have reported assets in the multiple millions.   These companies were not disclosed and utilized technology he gained while under contract with the Thousand Talents Program which can pay as much as $58,000 per month and up to $150,000 in living expenses.

NIH awarded Zang more than $15 million in grant money. His companies include “biomedical technology’, and ‘biological pharmaceutical’ interests. He resigned.

Charles Lieber, a chemist from Harvard has been arrested for his participation in China’s Thousand Talents Program.   In addition to Harvard, his institutions of study include Wuhan University of Technology.   His latest development includes the ability to inject into a chosen region of the brain macroporous electronics that act like a brain probe.

In addition to Lieber, the Justice department charged two Chinese nationals; Yanqing Ye and Zaosong Zheng. Ye is currently in China, and Zheng was arrested for attempting to smuggle 21 vials of biological research samples.   In addition to payments from the Thousand Talents Program, Lieber was also compensated $15 million from NIH.

Last month, Turab Lookman, a physicist, was arrested for his involvement with the Thousand Talents Program.   He worked in Sante Fe at the Los Alamos National Laboratory tasked with securing the nation’s nuclear stockpile, and conducting research.

Yu Ben Meng, was the chief investment strategist for the California state run, CalPERS. Under his direction, CalPERS invested in numerous Chinese companies that were blacklisted by the US government including surveillance companies.  Meng was recruited into his position through the Thousand Talents Program. Members of the Senate are calling for his immediate resignation.

August 2018, Xiaoqing Zheng removed electronic files with company trade secrets involving its turbine technologies and hid data files in a digital photograph of a sunset.  He was an employee of General Electric and was arrested.

Oddly, the media seems uninterested in these nefarious accounts despite the incredible risk they pose to national security.   Not only are US secrets being stolen and shared, the potential monetary reward is thus also diverted making US R&D which is funded by taxpayers, an economic waste.