A US federal court has sentenced a Chinese intelligence officer to 20 years in prison after he was convicted last year of plotting to steal trade secrets from from US and French aviation and aerospace companies.

Xu Yanjun was accused of a lead role in a five-year Chinese state-backed scheme to steal commercial secrets from GE Aviation, one of the world’s leading aircraft engine manufacturers, and France’s Safran Group, which was working with GE on engine development.

Xu was one of 11 Chinese nationals, including two intelligence officers, named in October 2018 indictments in federal court in Cincinnati, Ohio, where GE Aviation is based.

The Chinese ministry of state security intelligence officer was arrested in April 2018 in Belgium, where he had apparently been lured into a counter-intelligence operation – he had planned to secretly meet a GE employee on the trip.

He was extradited to the United States, where he stood trial and was convicted in a jury trial on 5 November 2021 of attempted economic espionage, attempted trade secret theft, and two related conspiracy charges.

Prosecutors had asked for a 25-year sentence to act as deterrent against similar actions, but Xu’s lawyers said in earlier court filings that such a sentence request exceeded those given to other people convicted of such crimes.

“Xu targeted American aviation companies, recruited employees to travel to China, and solicited their proprietary information, all on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China,” the Justice Department said in a statement.

“This case sends a clear message: we will hold accountable anyone attempting to steal American trade secrets,” said Ohio federal prosecutor Kenneth Parker.

Last year, China’s foreign ministry labeled the charges against Xu “pure fabrication”.

US officials say the Chinese government poses the biggest long-term threat to US economic and national security, and is carrying out unprecedented efforts to steal critical technology from US businesses and researchers.

The FBI director, Christopher Wray, has said his agency opens a new counterintelligence case related to China about twice a day.