BEIJING
(AP) - China on Tuesday dismissed suggestions that it is seeking to illegally
obtain U.S. space technology after a scientist in the United States was
convicted of violating the U.S. arms embargo on China.
The
scientist, Quan-Sheng Shu, a naturalized U.S. citizen born in Shanghai, pleaded
guilty Monday in a district court in Norfolk, Virginia, to selling rocket
technology to China and bribing Chinese officials to secure a lucrative
contract for his high-tech company.
Qin
Gang, a spokesman at China's Foreign Ministry, told reporters Tuesday that
"the allegation that China is stealing outer space technology from the
U.S. is being made with ulterior motives, and is in vain."
Qin
did not elaborate.
Prosecutors
said Shu, an expert in cryogenics, sold technology to China for the development
of hydrogen-propelled rockets. Shu's attorney said the case had nothing to do
with espionage or treason.
The
Chinese government is developing
a space launch facility in the southern island province of Hainan that will
house liquid-propelled launch vehicles designed to send space stations and
satellites into orbit. The project is overseen by an arm of the People's
Liberation Army.
The
U.S. maintains an arms embargo on China. The State Department determined that
Shu's attempts to sell information on liquid hydrogen tanks and cryogenics
equipment for the fueling system of a foreign launch facility constituted an
illegal transaction.
Prosecutors
said Shu, who is president of AMAC International Inc. of Newport News, had
directed employees to falsify information to circumvent U.S. laws.
Shu
also was charged with bribing Chinese officials to award a $4 million hydrogen
liquefier contract to a French company acting as an AMAC intermediary.
Shu
received more than $386,000 in commissions for securing the contract,
authorities said. He already had agreed to forfeit that money.
Shu
faces up to 10 years on each arms count and five years for the bribery charge
and fines of up to $2.5 million. Sentencing is scheduled for April 7. He will
remain free on $100,000 bond.
U.S.
authorities in recent years have prosecuted more than a dozen cases of either
traditional spying or economic espionage related to China. U.S. officials have
warned in the past year of increasing espionage efforts by Beijing.
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