London's Express newspaper reported (January 23) that a Chinese national in his 30s who was a scientist and
a rocket technician attached to the state-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China, where he helped develop a
mid-range hypersonic boost-glide vehicle capable of carrying DF-17 missiles to a range of up to 2,000 miles,
has defected to U.K. He sought asylum for himself and his family who were all sent to a former British
colony before being sent onward to the US via a US Air Force base in Germany. The defector resented having
been passed over for promotion, which persuaded him to contact a British intelligence asset in Hong Kong
at the end of September last year. During that first, tentative approach, he told the middleman he possessed detailed information about the hypersonic glide vehicle. Knowing he faced a firing squad if discovered, he
demanded asylum for himself and his wife and child. The Express said a call was made to Vauxhall Cross -
the London HQ of the Secret Intelligence Service, more commonly known as MI6 - and a three-person team,
comprising two intelligence officers and a technical specialist, were readied to deploy to Hong Kong.
|
