China has been building high-tech fighter jets for more than a decade, reportedly through the intellectual property theft of advanced American technology.
According to Fox News Digital report from Thursday, dating back to 2008, Beijing started development on the J-20 stealth fighter for the People's Liberation Army Air Force, with the long-range goal of developing a warplane fleet that could compete with American fighter jets.
"What we know is that because of the espionage efforts, [China's] J-20 is more advanced than it otherwise would be, and that's the important point here," former acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy James Anderson told Fox News.
The J-20 embarked on its first flight in 2011; six years later, it was reportedly deployed into service for the Chinese military.
Reports of property theft first surfaced in 2015. In one instance, The Associated Press noted that "some of [China's] technology, it turns out, may well have come from the U.S. itself."
The emergence of the J-20 fighter jet is sufficient proof that China has been engaging in intellectual property theft of U.S. technology for decades, according to American military experts.
"They have profited greatly from their thievery over the years," Anderson said. "They've put it to good use, and they've come up with an advanced fifth-generation fighter."
Despite the apparent information theft, Anderson couldn't speculate as to how China's J-20 fighter jets would stack up against America's F-22 Raptor jet — in the unforeseen event of "actual combat."
According to Anderson, China's espionage techniques range from "old-fashioned" and "low-tech" — like using spies and setting "honey traps" — or bribing American contractors, university academics, and government officials.
The more advanced methods of espionage might involve cyber hacking to pilfer critical military information, noted Anderson.
Matt McInnis, a senior fellow for the Institute for the Study of War's China program, said the Chinese have always been fixated on understanding the "more sophisticated jet engines" coming from the West.
"As someone who's watched China for a long time, that's always the joke ... will the Chinese ever be able to produce their own jet engine?" McInnis rhetorically asked. "So they've slowly been able to become more independent in creating jet engines for their more advanced aircraft."
"Unfortunately, they've had some success there," said Anderson, while adding that Beijing has devoted a lot of energy into pursuing data breaches about the Joint Strike Fighter for use in the design and construction of the J-20.
"It saves the Chinese time and money. In effect, we end up subsidizing a portion of their research and development budget because they are successfully stealing some of our secrets," Anderson said. "Ultimately, this puts our men and women at greater risk on the battlefield."
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