Chinese National With Ties to Beijing’s Military Turned Over to ICE After Being Sentenced

A Chinese national has been turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after being found guilty of hiding his ties to China’s People’s Liberation Army on his student visa application, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York announced on July 8.

Zhang Jiaxuemo, 30, of Arizona, pleaded guilty to one count of falsifying, concealing, or covering up a material fact and was sentenced to the time served in Buffalo. Zhang was arrested in August 2023.

ICE may begin removal proceedings to deport Zhang.

Zhang and his lawyer could not be reached for comment.

Zhang obtained an F-1 non-immigrant visa at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing in 2021 and came to the United States to study at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

According to the indictment, Zhang listed on his visa application the names of his middle school and high school, as well as China University of Mining and Technology in Beijing. However, he failed to disclose that he had conducted research and studied at Beihang University in China between September 2017 and December 2021.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Charles M. Kruly, who is handling the case, stated that Beihang University is known for supporting the Chinese regime’s “military-civil fusion” strategy, which involves Beijing advancing its military modernization by harnessing civilian-developed research and technology.

The State Department warns on its website that the Chinese strategy involves using “licit and illicit means” to acquire key technologies, such as theft, to achieve military dominance.

Beihang University is designated as one of China’s “Seven Sons of National Defense,” a group of leading universities with deep ties to China’s military and defense industry.

Kruly said that Zhang conducted research in the National Laboratory of Computational Fluid Dynamics, one of Beihang University’s major defense laboratories.

He added that had Zhang disclosed his time at Beihang University on his visa application, the State Department would have denied it, due to a 2020 presidential proclamation banning Chinese graduate students and researchers affiliated with universities linked to the Chinese military from entering the United States.

Beihang University is also on the U.S. Commerce Department’s Entity List. In April 2023, a California resident was sentenced to 20 months in prison after pleading guilty to exporting and facilitating the sale of restricted software to Beihang University.

The indictment also mentioned that Zhang was “mentored” by three individuals while at Beihang University, including Jiang Chongwen. According to open-source data, Jiang is an associate professor at the university.

In June 2024, China’s digital newspaper The Paper reported that about 50 members of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from Beihang University, the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics, and the Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) held a Party-building event. Among those in attendance was Jiang, who the outlet said held the position of a Party secretary at the university.

The event focused on how to follow the instructions of Chinese leader Xi Jinping more effectively in advancing China’s aviation industry, as well as how the three entities’ Party committees should maintain close exchanges and cooperation.

The Pentagon has named AVIC as one of the “Chinese military companies” operating in the United States.

In recent years, federal prosecutors have brought a number of criminal cases against Chinese students, including those involved in targeting U.S. military installations and intellectual property theft.

On May 7, Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed Chinese national Shi Fengyun, who was convicted of using a drone to photograph a naval shipyard in Virginia.