President Joe Biden has pardoned two individuals convicted of stealing American technology secrets, Yanjun Xu and Ji Chaoqun, who were both found guilty of espionage.

They received clemency last month, along with Shanlin Jin, who was convicted in 2021 for possessing over 47,000 images of child pornography while a doctoral student in Dallas. Jin is a relative of a ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party.

America has had a complicated relationship with China, but with these pardons from Biden, along with Trump’s open embrace of China, there is hope both superpowers can avoid a global war. 

In exchange for granting pardons, the Chinese government released three Americans:

Mark Swidan, a businessman from Texas who had been arrested in 2012 on drug-related charges; Kai Li, who faced espionage allegations and had been detained since 2016; and John Leung, who was sentenced to life in prison in 2023 for spying.

According to legal documents, Xu targeted aviation companies to try and learn more about the American technological developments.

He is a career intelligence officer, who captured information by using alias and fake companies to get into aircraft development circles and collect information.

Dramatically, Xu gave a presentation to one such official, but when the official returned to America, an FBI agent acted like the official.

Xu was arrested in Belgium after meeting the FBI agent posing as a US company official, and he was later extradited to the U.S.

“Today’s sentence demonstrates the seriousness of those crimes and the Justice Department’s determination to investigate and prosecute efforts by the Chinese government, or any foreign power to threaten our economic and national security,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said after his arrest.

Xu worked with Ji Chaoqun, who enlisted in the US Army Reserve to learn more about America’s advanced aerospace and satellites.

Still, he did not inform officials of his connection to the Chinese government.