A focused way into the evidence

Start with the decision in front of you.

Read two contrasting files, inspect their evidence limits, then turn to a practical playbook. You do not have to begin with the entire archive.

01 / For commercial and technical leaders

A customer or partner wants deeper access

The reading question: Where did legitimate access end, and what did the court actually establish?

Sinovel — AMSC
A customer owing more than $800 million recruited the head of its supplier’s automation engineering department, obtained proprietary source code, and used compiled versions in turbines.
What is established and uncertain →
Huawei — T-Mobile Tappy
T-Mobile admitted Huawei engineers to a protected test lab under nondisclosure agreements. A civil jury later found trade-secret misappropriation, while a related federal criminal prosecution remains unresolved.
What is established and uncertain →

Compare these files →Use the company playbook →

02 / For universities and laboratory leaders

Research, travel or samples cross a boundary

The reading question: Which conduct was adjudicated, and which labels would overstate the record?

John Reece Roth — Air Force drone research
A University of Tennessee professor and defense-project consultant was convicted after allowing unlicensed foreign-national access and carrying controlled military research to China, despite contract language and direct compliance warnings.
What is established and uncertain →
Zaosong Zheng — Biological vials
Airport officers found biological research vials hidden in a sock before a China-bound flight, but Zaosong Zheng’s only conviction was for lying to federal officers about carrying research material.
What is established and uncertain →

Compare these files →Use the university playbook →

03 / For investigators, journalists and policy readers

Someone describes an operation as state-directed

The reading question: Is the state connection established in court, officially attributed, or still unproved?

Yanjun Xu — GE Aviation
A Chinese Ministry of State Security officer recruited aviation employees through presentations and paid travel, then sought proprietary design-process information and access to a GE engineer’s company computer.
What is established and uncertain →
APT40 — Hainan MSS
A certified 2021 federal indictment, U.S. cyber advisories, and allied attribution statements linked a multiyear intrusion campaign to officers of the Hainan State Security Department and a contractor front company. The defendants remain accused, not convicted.
What is established and uncertain →

Compare these files →Check the evidence and nexus labels →

04 / For boards and partnership reviewers

Technology transfer creates a strategic disadvantage

The reading question: Is the transfer lawful, and are different partners being assigned different outcomes?

High-speed rail technology transfer
Foreign train makers accepted joint ventures and broad technology transfer to enter China's vast rail buildout. The contracts demonstrably expanded local production; a later U.S. commission assessed that sector-wide transfer helped cultivate CRRC as a state-owned competitor.
What is established and uncertain →
UMC, Micron & Fujian Jinhua
A Taiwan semiconductor company pleaded guilty to stealing a Micron trade secret during work connected to Fujian Jinhua. Four years later, the federal judge found Jinhua not guilty on every criminal count.
What is established and uncertain →

Compare these files →Read the inclusion standard →

Patterns are prompts for review, not proof against another actor. These reading paths organize existing dossiers. They do not change legal outcomes, establish new state links or refresh the research cutoff. For a live incident, use the incident-response card.