Two scientists at Canada’s high-security infectious disease laboratory – Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng – provided confidential scientific information to China and were fired after a probe concluded she posed “a realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security” and it was discovered they engaged in clandestine meetings with Chinese officials, documents tabled in the House of Commons reveal.
Dr. Qiu, who worked at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, was dishonest when confronted with her actions, making “blanket denials” and “half-truths, and personally benefited from the arrangement,” the documents state, noting that she repeatedly lied to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and “refused to admit to any involvement in various PRC [People’s Republic of China] programs.”
The two infectious-disease scientists were escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg in July, 2019, and later had their security clearances revoked. They were fired in January, 2021. Their whereabouts are not known.
Xiangguo Qiu an Keding Cheng’s connections to China are outlined in detail in a CSIS security assessment from Jan. 8, 2021, marked secret.Governor General’s Innovation Awards; Excerpt from CSIS report
CSIS, in a Jan. 8, 2021, report marked secret, said its findings call “into question Ms. Qiu’s loyalty to Canada and her reliability as it relates to loyalty.”
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Dr. Qiu and her husband had an undisclosed bank account in China’s Commercial Bank, the documents reveal, and she had conducted research connected to the People’s Liberation Army. CSIS said it found an unfinalized work agreement for a talent program with Hebei Medical University that stipulated she would be provided with funding worth the equivalent of $1.2-million Canadian between 2018 and 2022.
The agency said it found an application from her to the program that said she would work for China’s Wuhan Virology Institute for at least two months every year.
As part of her enrolment, CSIS said, Dr. Qiu committed to “building the People’s Republic of China’s biosecurity platform for new and potent infectious disease research.”
The CSIS investigation found Dr. Qiu led a project at Wuhan Virology Institute that would assess cross-species infection and pathogenic risks of filoviruses – work that the service said suggests “gain-of-function studies were possibly to take place.”
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