When Yanqing Ye applied for a visa to come to the United States to conduct research at Boston University, she was asked if she planned to conduct any espionage, sabotage or any other illegal activities.

Federal authorities say she flat out lied when she answered, “No.”

Ye, according to investigators, was a lieutenant of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the armed forces of the People’s Republic of China and member of the Chinese Communist Party when she to the United States.

Ye was charged in federal indictments Tuesday, along Dr. Charles Lieber, chairman of the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, and Chinese national Zaosong Zheng, with aiding China and hiding their connections to the country.

While federal officials did not say if all three cases were connected, Massachusetts U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said the cases are all part of China’s ongoing campaign to siphon off U.S. technology and research.

China continues to attempt to conduct “a massive, long-term campaign to steal U.S. technology,” authorities said.

Records show during one conversation Ye had with people back in China that they even mentioned “American (sic) taking precautions against us.”

According to federal documents, Ye was being directed by senior leaders of the PLA while conducting research at Boston University. Her supervisor was a colonel in the PLA and professor at the National University of Defense Technology, a top military academy in China directed by the country’s Central Military Commission.

The colonel is not named in federal records. Another co-conspirator listed in Ye’s case is not named but authorities say this person was also involved with the NUDT and had worked on “military research projects regarding rocket launchers.”

There is also a third, unnamed co-conspirator, who was a professor at NUDT.

Ye applied for a J-1 visa application to conduct research at the Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering Center of Polymer Studies at Boston University.

Her research and studies were funded by the Chinese Scholarship Council.

On Aug. 4, 2017, Ye electronically signed her visa application and certified all her answers were true and correct.

“Ye falsely identified herself as a ‘student’ and lied about her ongoing military service at the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), a top military academy directed by the CCP,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

She claimed her military service ended on July 31, 2017, but it hadn’t. Ye was not a student and instead was a member of the PLA and a lieutenant, records said.

Ye’s visa was approved Sept. 5, 2017 by the U.S. Department of the State.

Ye, who is in China now, studied in the United States from October 2017 to April 2019.

Supervisors in China instructed Ye to conduct research, assess U.S. military websites and send U.S. documents to China.

It was in April 2019 when officers from Customs and Border Protection and FBI agents interviewed Ye at Boston’s Logan International Airport.

Ye is accused of lying to investigators about her activities. Devices seized from Ye showed she accessed U.S. military websites, researched U.S. military projects and compiled information for the PLA on two U.S. citizens with expertise in robotics and computer science, according to federal documents.

Ye used “WeChat” to talk to co-conspirators. During one conversation there was a discussion about a research paper focused on a “risk assessment model designed to assist the PLA in deciphering data for military applications,” authorities said.

Ye also gave a co-conspirator her Boston University login information. The access allowed the co-conspirator to see Boston University’s document database.

During the April 2019 interview, Ye admitted she was a lieutenant in the PLA and was a member of the CCP, authorities said.

“Ye acted as an agent for the Chinese government, yet she never notified the Attorney General as required for agents working for a foreign government,” federal records said.

Ye was instructed to research a U.S. professor at the Naval Postgraduate School at Monterey, California. The professor did work on computer security, digital forensics and computer software engineering.

She was told to create a biography and send it back to China.

Other conversations via “WeChat” involved Ye sending links about U.S. military’s surface force strategy.

The co-conspirator noted the url had a “.mil” domain and it couldn’t be accessed in China.

“This is probably American (sic) taking precautions against us,” the co-conspirator said.

Ye was also asked to compile information about a professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio, records show.

Ye, 29, was charged with one count each of visa fraud, making false statements, acting as an agent of a foreign government and conspiracy.

“Ms. Ye left Boston University in April, 2019. We look forward to assisting the US Attorney’s Office as it continues its investigation,” BU spokesman Colin Riley wrote in an email to MassLive.

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