Italy has extradited a Chinese national accused of conducting cyber-espionage on behalf of Beijing to the United States, where he faces multiple criminal charges related to the theft of COVID-19 vaccine research. Xu Zewei, 34, was handed over to American authorities by the Italian National Police following his arrest at Milan's Malpensa airport last July. He appeared in the US District Court in Houston, Texas, on Monday to face nine criminal counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to obtain unauthorised access to protected computers.

US prosecutors allege that Xu, while employed at a Shanghai-based technology company called Shanghai Powerock Network, acted under the direction of China's Ministry of State Security to hack into universities, research institutes, and other institutions engaged in COVID-19-related work in 2020 and 2021. Targeted organisations reportedly included a university in southern Texas and a law firm with offices in Washington, DC, and internationally. Xu and his alleged co-conspirators are said to have exploited vulnerabilities in Microsoft Exchange email server software as part of a broader Chinese state-sponsored cyber-espionage campaign known as