Restricted Integrated Circuits with Military Applications to China

On August 3, 2009, William Chai-Wai Tsu, an employee of a Beijing-based military contracting company called Dimigit Science & Technology Co. Ltd, and the vice president of a Hacienda Heights, CA, front company called Cheerway, Inc., was sentenced in the Central District of California to 40 months in prison. Tsu illegally exported more than 400 restricted integrated circuits with applications in military radar systems to China over a 10-month period, according to court documents. These dual-use items are restricted for export for national security reasons. Tsu purchased many of the items from U.S.-distributors after falsely telling these U.S. companies that he was not exporting the circuits abroad. According to court documents, Tsu supplied restricted U.S. technology to several customers in China, including the “704 Research Institute,” which is known as the “Aerospace Long March Rocket Technology Company” and is affiliated with the state-owned China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation. Tsu’s employer in China, Dimigit, boasted in brochures that its mission was “providing the motherland with safe, reliable and advanced electronic technical support in the revitalization of our national military industry.” Tsu was indicted in the Central District of California on February 6, 2009 on charges of violating the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. He later pleaded guilty to two federal counts of the indictment on March 13, 2009. This case was the product of an investigation by the Export and Anti-proliferation Global Law Enforcement (EAGLE) Task Force in the Central District of California, which includes BIS, ICE, FBI, CBP, Diplomatic Security Service and the Transportation Security Administration.