He was taking payoffs.
Seriously though, the Chinese are pretty effectively using our universities and hoodwinking professors and administrators as part of their concerted effort to steal our technology.
Saw a 60 Minutes piece on it some time ago. People seem to keep presuming good intentions where none exist... as with the case of the BU "student" also mentioned in the article.
They say that in a China court room, there are always three parties: plaintiff, defendant, and the State...which is to say that the state is a party of interest in every dispute, not an impartial arbiter. The concept of a just decision includes the interests of the state, so if a defendant steals an idea, the court must weigh the societal benefit of punishing the defendant, and if the State benefits by the actions of the defendant, then they will not be punished.
I mention this to provide context for their mindset: the State is omnipresent...and it is definitely present in every technology deal. The State determines morality, not God, and not philosophy.
The State has a right to inspect the files of of every law firm...if a China law firm represents a US company in a trade secret dispute regarding tech that the PRC needs to avoid dependence on the US, I think it is safe to say that a State rep has visited the law firm representing the US company to get copies of the trade secret information.
I've heard IT guys say that they just assume that half their IT team in China also gets paychecks from the PRC. They were only half joking. They believe that every company with a China site is compromised. The US may spy, but the difference is that China uses the ideas to help their industry, while the US uses the info for defense alone.