Reported by CNBC’s Eamon Javers, the documentary features interviews with notable government officials, including FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Marco Rubio as well as intelligence experts and prosecutors directly involved in the case of the convicted Chinese government spy Xu Yanjun
ENGLEWOOD CLIFFS, N.J., June 15, 2023 – On Wednesday, June 21 at 10 PM ET, CNBC Documentaries presents “China’s Corporate Spy War,” an hour-long documentary that delves into the undercover world of economic espionage and details an illicit campaign by China’s government to steal high tech trade secrets from some of the biggest companies in the U.S. While many American executives have long assumed that the main goal of the espionage campaign is simply to compete with American companies, CNBC’s Eamon Javers reveals that U.S. officials believe Beijing’s goal in many cases is much more ambitious – the Chinese government wants to eliminate key American companies altogether.
Javers follows the story of Xu Yanjun, a Chinese government spy who targeted GE Aerospace and one of its engineers, and attempted to steal valuable proprietary information about its jet engine technology. Javers travels to Cincinnati where the company is based and interviews prosecutors that worked on the Xu case. He also talks to the former chief of counterintelligence at the CIA, James Olson, whose expertise from his 31-year career makes him essential to the prosecution in understanding how spies operate.
Javers speaks with aviation analysts to discuss the challenges China faces in building its own commercial passenger planes and why it would be after GE’s technology. He also meets with Dr. Seetha Raghavan, an associate dean and professor of research at one of the top aviation universities in the U.S., Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and she provides insight on the complexity of building jet engines and why the technology is difficult to master or replicate.
CNBC explores the fallout to the Chinese American community from a Department of Justice program initiated in 2018 to investigate cases of U.S. technology theft by the Chinese government. Javers interviews Zhengyu Huang, the president of The Committee of 100, a prominent Chinese American organization, who says the DOJ program showed racial bias and did damage to his community including to some in the science and tech industry.
“China’s Corporate Spy War” provides in-depth analysis of how key U.S. industries are in the crosshairs of China’s plans for global economic domination and examines the risks posed to U.S. businesses, as well as the country’s national security from its biggest economic rival.
For additional information and to view early clips from the documentary, visit:
For more information contact:
Jennifer Dauble
CNBC
t: 201.735.4721
m: 201.615.2787
e: jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com
Stephanie Hirlemann
CNBC
m: 201.397.2838
e: Steph.Hirlemann@nbcuni.com
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