Aug 15 (Reuters) - Global electronics company TE

Connectivity ( TEL ) has agreed to pay $5.8 million to settle with the

U.S. Department of Commerce for illegally shipping items to

parties tied to Chinese hypersonics, drone and military

electronics programs.

TE Connectivity ( TEL ) violated U.S. export control laws 79 times

between 2015 and 2019, mostly by shipping wires, circuit-board

connectors and other low-level items to restricted customers,

the Commerce Department said in a statement on Thursday.

The U.S. imposed sweeping export controls on U.S. technology

and added hundreds of Chinese parties to its export control list

in recent years to limit China's ability to strengthen its

military in ways that threaten U.S. national security.

Switzerland-based TE Connectivity ( TEL ), the Pennsylvania and Hong

Kong units of which were named in the settlement agreement,

voluntarily disclosed violations of those controls to the

Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS)

after they discovered them, the department and company said.

The department's investigation found TE exported $1.74

million worth of items to Chinese parties on its restricted

"Entity List," among other violations. Company representatives

in China concealed and disguised certain customers, such as

state-owned military corporations, the department said.

"Today's penalty takes into account both the cooperation of

TE Connectivity ( TEL ) in disclosing violations to us and the

seriousness with which we act when a company permits China's

destabilizing military modernization programs to benefit from

U.S. technology," Commerce official Matthew Axelrod said in the

statement.

"We have fully cooperated with BIS and are pleased to have

reached a settlement in this matter," a TE Connectivity ( TEL )

spokesman said in a statement. "We have a strong commitment to

compliance with trade laws."