A Chinese national accused of stealing trade secrets from Ford was employed by Beijing Automotive Industry Holding (BAIC), China’s fifth-biggest automaker, but was in the United States on personal leave when he was arrested, BAIC reportedly said on Monday.

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According to Reuters, BAIC issued a statement saying the employee, named by US prosecutors as Xiangdong Yu, had worked in BAIC’s research division for 11 months before leaving on a personal trip to the United States in mid-October.


BAIC said it would continue to monitor the development of the incident.


US authorities on Wednesday arrested Yu, a product engineer at Ford from 1997 to early 2007, on charges he attempted to steal Ford trade secrets, stole some documents and used them to try to get work with Chinese automotive companies.

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