San Francisco, June 10, (People's Daily Online)----Chinese professor Hao Zhang who was accused of economic espionage by the US government is seeking release from custody on bail Wednesday in North California.

Attorney Thomas Nolan asked judge today at the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose to set bail for Zhang. Due to insufficient investigations, the judge announced that a second hearing will be held on June 24 to make the decision.

Wearing the prison uniform of Santa Clara County Department of Correction main jail, Hao Zhang waved to his wife when he entered the hearing room. Fan Liping, the wife of Zhang, wiped off the tears silently during the hearing when she sat in the first row of the seats. 

She claimed one day ago that her husband had been wronged in an open letter published on a social media account operated by Tianjin University that Zhang worked for before he was taken into custody by the FBI at the Los Angeles International Airport on May 16. It's reported that he was flying into the United States from China to attend a conference in Arizona, which is considered as a trap set by the U.S. intelligence agency.

Yitai Hu, partner of Alston & Bird LLP, also the defense counsel of Zhang, told the reporter that it's very possible that Zhang will be released. The judge said at the hearing that this is a complicated case and it will take long to get the trial started before all the pre-trial finished. "It will be not fair for the defendant if he is announced innocent after two-year prison life."

US prosecutors claimed Zhang and his five alleged accomplices stole thin-film bulk acoustic resonator (FBAR) technology from two American companies: Skyworks, where he had previously worked, and a second company called Avago Technologies. The FBAR technology is said mostly used in mobile phones, tablets and GPS devices.

The US Department of Justice also claims Zhang, 36, to pass the technology on to companies and universities run by the Chinese government with offences including economic espionage and theft of trade secrets.

Now, other five alleged persons are still in China.