US charges Chinese ex-IBM worker with espionage

Several reports have named Xu Jiaqiang as a former IBM worker. The firm's website has his name listed as a developer

US authorities have charged Chinese national Xu Jiaqiang with three counts of economic espionage for allegedly stealing valuable source code from his former employer in the US. 

Chinese President Xi Jinping said his government does not engage in theft of commercial secrets in any form

The Department of Justice did not name the employer, but it is widely reported to be software developer IBM. Mr Xu intended to sell the code for his own profit and for the benefit of the Chinese government, authorities said.

The source code has been described as "a product of decades of work". The US Attorney's office said Mr Xu had worked as a developer for "a particular US company" from November 2010 to May 2014.


IBM's website, however, has a Xu Jiaqiang still listed as a developer. The company has not commented.
On Tuesday, the DOJ said Mr Xu planned to share the valuable source code with the National Health and Family Planning Commission of the People's Republic of China.

The source code in question was a clustered file system - or one that helps a computer's performance "by coordinating work among multiple servers".