A former American University researcher once held by the Chinese government as a spy, pleaded guilty Wednesday to US charges of exporting technology to Beijing that could be used in weapons systems. The hearing in US District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, was a surprising reversal in the story of Gao Zhan, whose return from prison to her home in 2001 was much sought and much celebrated by the US. Gao, 43, fought back tears as she admitted she made more than $539,000 selling 80 microprocessors to a procurement agency of the Chinese government. The equipment can be used in everything from navigating military aircraft to identifying targets. US officials could not say how national security was harmed because they don’t know where the equipment wound up. ‘‘The Chinese don’t exactly tell us that,’’ the official said. That was one of many mysteries surrounding Gao, who was imprisoned for five months by the Chinese, sentenced to a further 10 years as a spy for Taiwan and, one day later, sent home. Even as President Bush was calling for her release, court papers revealed Wednesday, US government agents were almost a year into investigating the equipment sales. Some people familiar with the case raised the possibility that Gao’s imprisonment was part of an elaborate cover story in which the Chinese were complicit. Officials said that the shipments arranged by Gao continued while she was in prison in Beijing and that Gao had been shipping banned high-tech items to China for four years before she was caught. The investigation began when a US manufacturer alerted the government. Human rights advocates and academics who had rallied to Gao’s cause, while expressing shock and a sense of betrayal at the turn of events, said they had no reason to doubt Gao’s account of her 166 days in a Chinese jail. The circumstances surrounding the imprisonment of Gao, and her then-6-year-old son, said Saman Zia Zarifi, the director of Human Rights Watch’s Asia division, made him doubt ‘‘that the thing was a setup’’. A Justice Department official cited ‘‘a strong money motive’’ but said that wasn’t completely satisfying because agents seized a bank account with $540,000 still in it. Gao, who is scheduled to be sentenced March 5, faces up to 13 years in prison for illegally exporting a controlled item and tax fraud. She was released on a $50,000 personal recognizance bond. Gao said she did not seek the US license she knew was required to export the sophisticated equipment because she thought it would be denied. Officials said, she was running an export business and sent the equipment to the Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics & Technology, an entity also known by other names, including ‘‘The 14th Institute’’. Court papers said the institute ‘‘is involved in the development of radar systems’’ for the Chinese military, as well as nonmilitary systems. Gao said in court that when she returned from China, she learned her husband had filed a false tax return that did not reflect income from the sale of the microprocessors. Her husband, Xue Donghua, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a misdemeanor charge in connection with the fraudulent tax forms. (LAT-WP)
