Authorities in Belgium said on Monday they had arrested a suspected spy who allegedly sold a local chip-maker's trade secrets to a Chinese rival.
Prosecutors said the Chinese-Belgian national, who worked at Belgan, a now bankrupt Belgian producer of gallium nitride semiconductors, was arrested at Brussels airport in May as he was about to board a flight to Beijing.
"There are indications that the person concerned, who held a senior research position within the Belgian company, was simultaneously acting as a director of a Chinese company engaged in a similar manufacturing activity," the federal prosecutor's office said.
The Chinese firm was set up just a few months after the 52-year-old suspect had joined Belgan and was financed by a Chinese investment fund.
"The investigation may point to the unlawful transfer abroad of specialized intellectual property and trade secrets relating to the production of gallium nitride chips -- technology which has applications in sectors including electric vehicles, aerospace and the military," the prosecutor's office said.
This is the second espionage case related to China to emerge in Belgium in the space of a few months.
In July, authorities said they had arrested a Canadian citizen of Chinese origin suspected of carrying out "espionage on behalf of a third country" while on an internship at NATO.
The Belgan case stems from the company's bankruptcy in 2024, which affected more than 400 workers.
The suspect is being held in pre-trial detention on accusations of espionage, participation in a criminal organization, misuse of company assets and the unlawful disclosure of company secrets.
Prosecutors said they were still looking for a second suspect, also a Chinese national, who local media reported to be the firm's last CEO.
In its latest annual report, Belgium's state security agency highlighted several methods allegedly employed by China to acquire strategic Western know-how, including creating so-called "copy-to-China" companies.
It described how "Chinese firms invest in Belgian companies, research centers or spin-offs -- preferably small entities developing promising technologies but facing funding challenges -- to gain access to specific technologies".
They then established a firm in China to produce the same technology on a larger scale, before the original parent company is sold off, the report said.
