In late May, a shipment of F-35 stealth fighter jet parts heading for the United States from Australia was misrouted to Hong Kong and into Chinese hands. Since 2007, Chinese intelligence operatives and their proxies had been stealing data to do with the F-35. Now, some of the jet’s closely guarded components, including a cockpit canopy and weapons-bay door, had landed on Chinese soil—handing Beijing stealth technology that only the United States and its allies have access to.
