Recently released intelligence reports state that a prominent researcher at Canada’s most secure laboratory disclosed sensitive scientific data to Chinese organizations, held clandestine meetings with officials, and presented a legitimate and significant danger to Canada’s economic well-being.
The firing of Xiangguo Qiu and her spouse, Keding Cheng, has been surrounded by uncertainty since they were escorted out of Winnipeg’s National Microbiology Laboratory in 2019 and officially terminated two years after.
Newly released intelligence evaluations state that Qiu’s connections with Chinese organizations could have been detrimental to Canada’s safety, and express concern over her poor decision-making. The assessments, which were made public after a lengthy dispute with opposing lawmakers who had requested details regarding the firings, consist of over 600 documents.
According to CSIS, the Canadian intelligence agency, Qiu consistently deceived during security interviews about her connections to Chinese government-affiliated research institutions. Despite being presented with conflicting proof, “Ms Qiu consistently denied, pretended to be unaware, or outright lied.”
During a specific situation, Qiu initially stated that her trip to China in 2018 was for personal reasons. However, she later confessed that the Wuhan Institute for Virology had funded the trip and that she had met with a high-ranking member of the institute during the visit. Further investigation also revealed an application from Qiu, in which she agreed to work at the Wuhan Virology Institute for two months annually, in order to enhance China’s ability to handle new and dangerous infectious diseases, as stated in the CSIS report.
Qiu acknowledged that she had sent a sample of Ebola to China’s national institute for food and drug control for the purpose of developing an inhibitor for the virus. However, she did not have a formal agreement for the transfer or collaboration.
Qiu granted access to the lab for two employees from a Chinese institution, despite their work not aligning with Canadian interests.
Both Qiu and Cheng have filed complaints about being fired, but have not addressed the accusations mentioned in the documents. It is currently not known where they are.
The public health agency wrote to Cheng expressing serious concerns about his close personal and professional ties with Xiangguo Qiu, as well as his lack of candor regarding their activities with individuals and entities from a foreign government.
Qiu was told by the health agency that “during the entire [investigative] process, you did not express remorse or regret” and at times tried to deflect blame onto the public health agency.
The agency stated that they cannot trust that you will not misuse the trust given to you and complete your designated tasks in a way that will have a positive impact on PHAC and will not jeopardize the security of the Canadian government and PHAC.
Canada’s Liberal government has fought the release of the documents for years. The government initially released heavily redacted documents, which left opposition parties frustrated with what they felt was a lack of candour by Justin Trudeau’s government. A recent unified motion by opposition parties finally compelled the release of the investigation.
Mark Holland, the Health minister, admitted that there has been a lack of following security measures and protocols at the laboratory that falls under the oversight of the public health agency of Canada.
Holland clarified that there were no instances of leaking national secrets or lab information.
The Conservative party, leading in recent polls, has accused the Trudeau government of allowing the Chinese government to access Canada’s most secure laboratory.
According to Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, the Liberal government, led by Justin Trudeau, has failed on a large scale when it comes to national security. Poilievre also accuses Trudeau of actively trying to conceal the failure.
Source: theguardian.com
