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 It was the third time in as many years that U.S. authorities have
made accusations of economic espionage conducted on behalf of China,
a sign that the United States is increasingly focused on what it has
termed a top national security concern.
The charges against the six could exacerbate tensions between China
and the United States, coming two days after U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry's China visit was overshadowed by concerns over Beijing's
maritime ambitions in the South China Sea.
"The Chinese government expresses strong concern about the relevant
matter and we are checking further details," China's Foreign
Ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, told reporters at a regular press
briefing.
Hong declined to comment when asked whether the case would undermine
Sino-U.S. relations, but said the Chinese government would make sure
that the "legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese personnel
are guaranteed."
One of the suspects, Professor Hao Zhang, 36, was arrested on
Saturday in Los Angeles after he arrived on a flight from China, the
Justice Department said in a statement. The other five suspects are
believed to be in China.
 Zhang and two other professors from Tianjin University were charged
with stealing source code and other proprietary information from
chipmakers Avago Technologies Ltd <AVGO.O> and Skyworks Solutions
Inc <SWKS.O>, where two of them worked.
Avago has headquarters in San Jose, California and Singapore, and
Skyworks is based in Woburn, Massachusetts.
Zhang, a former Skyworks employee, and others established a company,
ROFS Microsystems, at Tianjin with secrets stolen from the U.S.
firms, prosecutors said. Calls to ROFS Microsystems went unanswered
on Wednesday.
Tianjin University organized an immediate investigation, an employee
from the university's publicity department told Reuters by phone. He
declined to be named as he was not authorized to speak to media.
"The current investigation is still under way," he said, adding that
the school would issue an official response soon.
State-backed Tianjin University, which was founded in 1895 as
Northern University, is China's oldest institution of higher
learning, according to its website. The ruling Communist Party's
Central Committee, a council of some 200 senior officials who meet
about once a year, identified the school "as a national key
university" in 1959, the website said.
Prosecutors identified the other five suspects as Wei Pang, 35, a
former Avago employee and a professor; Jinping Chen, 41, a professor
and a member of the board of directors for ROFS Microsystems; Chong
Zhou, 26, a Tianjin University graduate student and design engineer
at ROFS Microsystems; Huisui Zhang, 34, who studied with Pang and
Zhang; and Zhao Gang, 39, who is the general manager of ROFS
Microsystems.
According to the indictment, Pang and Zhang met while studying
electrical engineering at University of Southern California and took
jobs as engineers at Avago and Skyworks, respectively.
Both companies specialize in Film Bulk Acoustic Resonator (FBAR)
technology, which is primarily used in mobile devices like
cellphones, tablets and GPS devices, but also has military
applications.
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Between 2006 and 2007, Pang and Zhang hatched a plan to start
manufacturing the technology in China and met with Tianjin
University officials, prosecutors said. In 2009, both left the U.S.
companies to become professors at Tianjin, nearly 100 miles (160 km)
southeast of Beijing.
If convicted, the defendants could face jail terms of up to 50
years.
U.S. State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke told reporters that the
United States is committed to protecting U.S. companies' trade
secrets.
"This is an important issue for the United States," he said.
"YOUNG AND NOT PERFECT"
Hao teaches at Tianjin University's school of precision instrument
and opto-electronics engineering, according to the university's
website. Both Zhang and Pang led a research team in a
microelectromechanical systems filter chip project, the university
said in 2011 on its website.
In 2010, Zhang and Pang were featured in an article in the state-run
China Economic Net website as four of Tianjin University's younger
generation of "academic leaders", wearing "backpacks, jeans and
youthful sunny smiles".
"Perhaps they are still young and not perfect, but they have very
good projects and research funding support," Chen Zhihua, Tianjin
University's director of discipline development, was quoted as
saying.
"They stand at the forefront of technology and their fields of study
are very promising."
In March 2014, a California businessman was convicted of stealing
DuPont trade secrets to help a state-owned Chinese company develop a
white pigment used in a wide range of products and last May five
Chinese military officers were accused of hacking into American
nuclear, metal and solar companies.
Skyworks and Avago did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
(Additional reporting by Bill Trott in WASHINGTON and Sui-Lee Wee
and Beijing Newsroom; Editing by David Storey,; Jonathan Oatis,
Christian Plumb and Nick Macfie)
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