A researcher at the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) was arrested Thursday on suspicion of having leaked trade secrets to a Chinese company.
The 59-year-old male Chinese national is a senior researcher at AIST in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture. He is suspected of having violated the Unfair Competition Prevention Law, according to sources close to the Public Security Bureau of the Metropolitan Police Department.
In April 2018, the man is believed to have emailed information about a fluorine compound he was researching at AIST to the private Chinese company.
