A Taiwanese businessman pleaded guilty Wednesday to acting as a covert agent for the Chinese government and trying to buy sophisticated military parts and weapons, including an F-16 fighter jet engine and cruise missiles.

Reports Fox News (you can read the whole thing here; h/t Simon World). Boy, a Taiwanese! So this guy betrayed his own country (and, yes, it is a de facto country) and violated American laws to make a few bucks while shilling for the PRC. I hope he likes his 30 years.

Among his attempted purchases from undercover agents was the AGM-129 cruise missile, which has stealth technology and can carry nuclear warheads 2,300 miles, ICE said. [snip]

Prosecutors say Moo and Serge Voros, a Frenchman who remains a fugitive, began attempting to acquire military aircraft engines and cruise missiles in early 2004. They first tried to buy 70 Blackhawk helicopter engines for delivery to China, then decided to focus on the F-16 engine.

In August 2005, Moo met with people in Miami who were undercover ICE agents about the engine deal and showed them a document indicating that China wanted the cruise missiles as well as AIM-120 air-to-air missiles. He deposited $3.9 million in a Swiss bank account to pay for the weapons, according to court papers.

Predictably, China’s government is denying the attempt:

The Chinese government has rejected the claims, contending that it does not purchase weapons illegally.

I know from personal experience that this denial is a baldfaced lie.

That is not surprising (that’s what repressive governments do, they lie). European complicity in some of these attempts is not that surprising either.

What is truly sad is that there have been instances of complicity on the part of American defense contractors, generally in the form of “willful neglect” or “willful blindness” to what they Chinese partners have been doing.

Without going too much into personal history, I will just say that my own professional experience has imbued me with a profound cynicism for many players in the defense contracting business.