US-based Chinese scholar Gao Zhan, once convicted by Beijing of spying for Taiwan, admitted in a US court illegally exporting militarily sensitive US computer technology to China.

In a sensational twist to a saga which soured US-China relations two years ago, Gao pleaded guilty to exporting 80 micro-processors to China without required authorization from the US Department of Commerce.

The charge covered a transaction in October 2000, three months before Gao was arrested in China and accused of spying for Taiwan.

In a plea bargain deal, Gao, mother of a young boy, also confessed at federal court in Arlington, Virginia, to filing a false joint tax return with her husband Xue Donghua, which did not include most of the proceeds of the sales, worth 1.5 million dollars.

Sentencing was set for March 5.

In theory, the maximum penalty for her offenses is 13 years in jail and a half a million dollars in fines. But a US official said under the plea bargain, Gao could face a maximum of 37 months behind bars, and in all probability prosecutors would ask for less.

Xue told reporters on Wednesday after emerging from the courtroom that the couple remained in the US government’s debt.

US officials “tried almost everything to bring her back, and we love this country,” he said.

Gao, an academic researcher and US permanent resident, became a cause celebre in Washington after she was held for five and a half months in China in 2001, accused of spying for Taiwan.

Sentenced to 10 years in jail by a Chinese court, she was released on July 26, 2001, just days before a visit to Beijing by US Secretary of State Colin Powell (news – web sites).

According to court documents, Gao sent 80 MG80486 DX2-50 microprocessors to Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics technology, which makes state of the art radar systems for the Chinese military.

The processors can be used in navigation, flight control and weapons control systems and can help missiles home in on their targets, the documents said.

For national security reasons, such components require a Commerce Department (news – web sites) License before they can be exported to China.

Gao’s lawyers argued that the case resulted from a misunderstanding, saying she believed that the company was a civilian one and that the parts involved all had civilian and commercial uses.

Under the plea bargain, Gao is required to cooperate with US authorities investigating the export of illegal items to China.

Gao’s court appearance on Wednesday completed a spectacular fall from grace after she emerged as a human rights icon when she was arrested and charged by China with spying for Taiwan in February 2001.

Her fate, and that of her husband Xue, and then five-year-old son captured the hearts of human rights campaigners here, who mounted a campaign for her freedom.

Her release followed fierce diplomatic pressure from Washington, and was seen at the time as an olive branch to Powell before he arrived in Beijing at a time of high Sino-US tensions.

Gao spent five and a half months in Chinese jails.

At the time of her arrest, Xue and the couple’s then five-year-old son, Andrew, a US citizen, were held separately for 26 days before being released, but Gao herself was charged with spying for Taiwan.

She was sentenced to 10 years in prison before being released on medical grounds.