Pentagon official charged with conspiracy to leak secrets to Taiwan - updated

An official of the US Defense Department was charged Wednesday with conspiring to leak defense secrets to a spy working for the Chinese government. The agent, Tai Shen Kuo, had given the official the impression that he was actually working for Taiwan.

James W. Fondren Jr., 62, is the second Pentagon official charged with giving classified documents to Kuo, a Taiwan native and naturalized US citizen, who worked as a furniture salesman in New Orleans. Kuo is currently serving the first year of a 16-year jail sentence he got after he pleaded guilty to spying for Beijing, AP says.

Prosecutors say that Fondren sold Kuo classified information over a period of four years. The papers dealt primarily with US-Taiwanese military relations, AP says.

His attorney, Asa Hutchinson, told AP that Fondren has denied knowingly providing information to “any agent of the People's Republic of China."

However, in an affidavit, FBI agent Robert M. Gibbs says that although Fondren was not aware that Kuo worked for Beijing, he did believe the information was being sent to Taiwanese officials, which is illegal, AP writes.

Fondren remains free pending indictment. If convicted, he could face up to five years in prison.

Last year, former Defense Department employee Gregg Bergersen was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for providing secrets to Kuo.

The US has seen a significant rise in China-related espionage in recent times, raising concern about an intensified campaign by Beijing to steal American military and civilian technology, AP says.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu on Thursday denied claims that Kuo was working as a spy for Beijing.

"We urge the United States to abandon its Cold War mindset, stop its groundless accusations against China and do more to improve mutual trust and friendship between both peoples," CRI quoted Ma as saying.