Guilty plea in US-China spy case

A Chinese woman living as a permanent resident in the US has pleaded guilty to helping to spy for Beijing on US military relations with Taiwan.

Yu Xin Kang, 33, confessed to aiding and abetting Chinese spy Tai Shen Kuo, who obtained classified information from a former US defence analyst.

As part of a plea bargain, she escaped the more serious charge of espionage, which could have meant a life sentence.

Instead, she faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced on 1 August.

Tai Shen Kuo, a Taiwanese-US national who worked as a New Orleans furniture salesman, pleaded guilty earlier this month to espionage and faces sentencing on 8 August.

Ms Kang acted as a "conduit for information" between him and a Chinese government official, the US justice department says.

The former defence analyst, 51-year-old Gregg Bergersen, pleaded guilty in March to a charge of conspiracy to disclose national defence information "to persons not entitled to receive it", and also faces up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced on 11 July.

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