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#Post#: 14419--------------------------------------------------
Why China is stealing American Corn Seeds
By: luvcats Date: July 4, 2014, 12:48 pm
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HONG KONG (CNNMoney)
Three years ago, a security guard working for seed company
Pioneer Hi-Bred came across something unusual on a road in Iowa:
Just off the pavement, a man was on his knees, digging in a
field.
Challenged by the guard, Mo Hailong claimed to be an employee of
the University of Iowa who was traveling to a nearby conference.
He jumped back in his car and sped away.
U.S. authorities would later accuse Mo, and five other Chinese
nationals, of stealing corn seeds and attempting to smuggle them
back to China.
A seventh defendant, Mo Yun, was arrested and charged Wednesday
with stealing trade secrets for her husband's seed company --
the Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Company.
The details of the case, laid out by prosecutors, underscore the
difficulty of safeguarding U.S. intellectual property, and the
determination of some foreign rivals to acquire technology by
illicit means.
For six years, the Chinese nationals hopscotched across rural
Iowa and Illinois, stealing valuable inbred corn seed from
Pioneer, Monsanto (MON) and LG Seeds, prosecutors said in an
updated indictment. The group rented storage facilities, bought
their own testing field and concocted elaborate cover stories.
"These are actually very serious offenses," one of the accused
said during a recorded conversation reproduced in the
indictment. "They could treat us as spies," his colleague
replied.
Three members of the group tried to smuggle the stolen goods out
of the U.S. in 2012, concealing hundreds of seeds in Orville
Redenbacher popcorn boxes and Subway napkins. One tried to reach
Canada; the others boarded aircraft bound for Beijing.
The Chinese nationals weren't risking imprisonment for just any
corn -- they were after inbred seeds used to create the hybrids
that are then sold to farmers.
Inbreds are closely guarded secrets. Companies spend tens of
millions of dollars on research to produce strains that boost
yields and are resistant to drought and insects.
China has become a major corn importer in recent years, and the
stolen technology could have played a role in boosting domestic
production.
The case is the latest in a series of incidents involving
Chinese nationals working in the U.S. Some are accused of
stealing rice technology and aerospace secrets for China.
"Identifying and deterring those focused on stealing trade
secrets, propriety and confidential information or national
security information is the number two priority for the FBI
second only to terrorism," FBI special agent Thomas Metz said in
a statement.
Beijing Dabeinong Technology Group Company, and its subsidiary,
Beijing Kings Nower Seed, did not respond to requests for
comment.
Analysts say that Beijing's use of economic espionage can be
attributed in part to its drive to modernize the country in
recent decades.
The illicit acquisition of technology has helped China
accelerate the process, bypassing problems that would otherwise
require years of research to resolve. It's an issue that has
drawn the attention of the White House.
President Obama has raised the issue with his Chinese
counterpart, Xi Jinping. But his arguments have carried less
weight following revelations by Edward Snowden that U.S.
agencies were attempting to monitor Chinese telecommunications
company Huawei.
Chinese officials have been quick to levy charges of hypocrisy
against the U.S. An official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
said in May that the U.S. was engaged in theft of secrets and
snooping on companies, politicians and others.
-- CNN's Vivian Kam contributed reporting.
#Post#: 14423--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why China is stealing American Corn Seeds
By: trollslayer Date: July 4, 2014, 5:17 pm
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The Chinese economy is based on stealing and duplicating
technology
#Post#: 14425--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why China is stealing American Corn Seeds
By: luvcats Date: July 4, 2014, 11:03 pm
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[quote author=trollslayer link=topic=1121.msg14423#msg14423
date=1404512276]
The Chinese economy is based on stealing and duplicating
technology
[/quote]
Well I don't know why. With the amount of people that China has
you would think that a few of them might come up with an
original idea.
#Post#: 14426--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why China is stealing American Corn Seeds
By: 2fat Date: July 4, 2014, 11:16 pm
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[quote author=luvcats link=topic=1121.msg14425#msg14425
date=1404533008]
Well I don't know why. With the amount of people that China has
you would think that a few of them might come up with an
original idea.
[/quote]
cheaper and easier to steal vs develop--
#Post#: 14438--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why China is stealing American Corn Seeds
By: rapids_60 Date: July 5, 2014, 8:35 pm
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I get the idea that thinking for your self and coming up with
new ideas isn't a valued part of the Chinese culture.
Remember Korean air lines horrible safety record? A lot of it
had to do with Korean culture. It was better to plummet to your
death than to contradict your superiors.. even when that
superior was the pilot and he had made a grave misjudgment.
They fixed that by adding foreigners to the flight staff who had
no such cultural inhibitions.
Point being, that isn't the sort of environment that fosters
innovation and China is quite similar.
#Post#: 14440--------------------------------------------------
Re: Why China is stealing American Corn Seeds
By: luvcats Date: July 5, 2014, 8:53 pm
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Not being racist; I remember a time in the 80's being told by my
employer that the Orientals talent is taking an idea and making
it better. My employer one day ended up having some Japanese
spies that wandered around the facility. We had some ground
breaking technology that no other place in the world had. The
next day we all had a meeting and were warned to be on the
lookout for spies after that.
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