China consulate officials in US visit Yu in Ford case

China's Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that its consulate general in Chicago has already sent officials to visit Yu Xiangdong, the Chinese national who was indicted in the U.S. on charges he stole trade secrets from Ford Motor Co.

Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said at a regular news briefing that he wasn't aware of the details of the case, but that China was paying close attention to it.

"We are closely following whether the welfare and interest of those involved have been guaranteed," Ma said.

Yu, also known as Mike Yu, worked for Ford from 1997 to 2007 and had access to trade secrets at the U.S. auto maker, including design documents, according to a federal indictment.

Just before leaving Ford, Yu copied about 4,000 documents onto an external hard drive and took Ford design documents to China to assist in his efforts to find work with a Chinese auto company, the court papers say.

Yu is currently an employee of Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., China's fifth-largest auto maker by sales volume.

Yu joined Beijing Auto's research division in November last year on a three- year contract and his duties mainly involve computer-aided engineering and automotive-body design, according to a statement issued earlier this month by Beijing Automotive, which said that Yu applied for leave on Oct. 13 to visit the U.S.