A Chinese court has sentenced a researcher to two years in prison for taking plant germplasm out of the country without authorisation, the state security ministry said.
The researcher, identified only by surname Fu, was accused of smuggling a total of 61 germplasm specimens out of China.
The accused, who worked at an agricultural research institute, was also deprived of political rights for a year for “illegally disseminating intelligence to foreign entities", Global Times reported, citing the ministry.
The state media outlet claimed some countries have "continuously sought to steal China’s agricultural germplasm resources through various means, harming the national security and interests”.
Germplasm is a collection of genetic material from plants or animals that is preserved for the purposes of breeding, research, conservation, and agricultural development.
The material is the “chips” of agriculture, closely related to national food security, the ministry said on Monday.
Fu had gone as a visiting scholar to a foreign university where they did not have any ongoing research project, the ministry said. Fu noticed advanced lab equipment at the university and thought of using it for their own domestic research projects.
Fu shared the idea with a mentor, a rice expert surnamed Song, who allegedly encouraged the researcher to bring Chinese wild rice germplasm resources to the university, the ministry said.
“Fully aware that exporting domestic rice seeds without authorisation is prohibited," the ministry claimed, “Fu made three unauthorised trips, transporting four batches totalling 61 samples of China’s rice germplasm resources abroad.”
The samples, including a rare one exclusive to China, were allegedly sent to Song and other “foreign research personnel”.
In 2018, the US sentenced a Chinese scientist to 10 years in a federal prison for conspiring to steal samples of a variety of rice seeds from a Kansas biopharmaceutical research facility.
