US physicist found guilty of leaking space info to China

WASHINGTON: A Chinese-born physicist on Monday pleaded guilty before a US court to illegally exporting American military space know-how to China, US officials said.

Naturalised US citizen Shu Quan-Sheng, admitted handing over to Beijing information on the design and development of a fuelling system for space launch vehicles between 2003 and 2007, the Justice Department said.

Shu, 68, pleaded guilty to violating the Arms Export Control Act by helping Chinese officials based at the space facility on southern Hainan island to develop manned space flight and future missions to the Moon.

He also acknowledged he had sent them in December 2003 a specific military document detailing the design of liquid hydrogen tanks crucial to launching vehicles into space, the Justice Department said in a statement.

Shu, who is the head of a high-tech company, AMAC International, based in Newport News, Virginia admitted a third charge of bribing Chinese officials to the tune of some $1,89,300.

Shu will be sentenced April 6, 2009. He faces a maximum of 10 years  in prison.