一篇关于中国学生间谍案的报道

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Li Li: a trainee or a spy?
         

Li Li, a Chinese girl student in France who was previously suspected by French judicial authority of "grabbing business secrets", was released on parole on June 20, ending her 53-day detainment at a women's prison in Versailles. It is said that the French judicial authority will hold the final ruling and release the result in the near term. The truth of the so-called "Chinese girl student's spying case" which was much fussed about by the French media will come to light very soon.

Exaggerated facts

22-year-old Li Li is from Wuhan, capital city of central China's Hubei Province. In the autumn of 2001, she was chosen for the student exchange program launched by Universite de Technologie de Compiegne and Chinese high schools, and later went to study in France with 22 fellow students. In February this year, Li passed the interview with VALEO, an auto component company and started her six-month life as a trainee there.

On April 29, Li went to work on time, but what awaited her were French police, showing her an investigation decree for "credit abuse" and "inbreak of the computer information system". The police directly sent Li, who was totally unaware of the case, to the women's prison in Versailles.

After that, various major French media jumped on the bandwagon to sensationalize Li's arrest. Those media described Li as a "girl spy" who is "exceptionally intelligent", claiming that she not only is proficient in five languages -- French, English, German, Spanish and Arabic -- but also is adept at hacking; she broke into the computer system of VALEO and grabbed a large amount of business secret. Some media rumored that French police found six computers and two "powerfully functioning" mobile hard discs. The news of "Chinese girl spy" was immediately turned into a hubbub in France.

The dean of Li's university told reporter of TF1 that all the facts were exaggerated and, judging from the current situation, it is likely that Li is just an ordinary student.

The dean said, in February 2002, Li, a 19-year-old girl who just settled in France, did not catch much attention from others. However, three years later, she became an outstanding student. Her strong area is material science but she is just so-so in foreign languages and computer. The dean says he hasn't heard about Li's talent in foreign languages. As he knows, Li's French was average, English is a required course, but she failed to pass until the third exam, so she cannot be considered familiar with the two foreign languages. Her German is just elementary, and he does not know where she learned Spanish and Abrabic, maybe at night school or at weekend, anyhow, not at the university.

With regard to computer, the police found at Li and her boyfriend's home the computer Li bought in France at a cost of 900 euros and another computer that belonged to her boyfriend. Moreover, the police even took the trouble to go to the home of the parents of Li's boyfriend and found an outdated computer -- that's all the equipment of the so-called "Chinese girl spy".

Mistake due to ignorance

Li admitted in front of the police that she did download some documents from the computer of the company to her mobile hard disc. However, she did not, as reported, hack the website of the company. Li also denied stealing any industrial secret. Her downloading the documents of the company was totally for her convenience to study at home and to complete her internship thesis. After she was detained, she was taken by police to her company to get evidence. She opened the company's computer for trainees and brought out the documents she downloaded easily--no need for a hacker. When she tried to recall the content of the documents, Li said, three of them might be sensitive: two of which were reports done by previous trainees which concern the design of BMW models and components and what's most crucial was the third document, which contains VALEO's development plan in China from 2005 to 2006. Sources say, it was just for this secret document, which disappeared after being downloaded by Li, that VALEO accused her.

Most Chinese students in France think that the assiduity of Chinese is beyond the imagination of French people and Li might make the mistake for lacking knowledge about local laws, but it is a bit too exaggerating if Li's acts were described as "industrial spying".

Chinese Embassy highly concerned

According to an official with Chinese Embassy in France, the embassy has been highly concerned about the "Li Li case" after its occurrence and immediately sent personnel of the educational and consular departments of the embassy to follow the development of the case.

Paris-based Chinese Embassy in France introduced the latest development of the case at a press conference on June 22. The spokesman of the embassy said that Li was on parole under the judicial control by France. The spokesman reiterated that Li is just an ordinary student studying in France and it is hoped that the departments concerned can properly handle the case to enable Li to return to school at an early date to complete her studies in France.

Prior to this, officials with the Chinese Embassy in France visited Li during her detainment and had contact with VALEO.

By People's Daily Online