Details on fired Chinese scientists remain secret to save Liberals from another 'national embarrassment'
In July 2019, two infectious-disease researchers, Xiangguo Qiu and her husband Keding Cheng, lost their security clearances at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg after they leaked confidential information to China.
A special parliamentary investigation into the firing of two Chinese scientists at Canada’s top infectious disease laboratory has learned the feds withheld information to shield themselves from national scrutiny, according to MPs.
The committee penned a February 19 letter to all House of Commons parties urging they declassify all information from Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) documents with the intent of making them available to the public.
“The information appears to be mostly about protecting the organization from embarrassment for failures in policy and implementation, not legitimate national security concerns, and its release is essential to hold the government to account,” it said.
However, the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government alleges national-security reasons for not disclosing the documents, reported The Globe and Mail.
The letter reiterated that all identities would remain confidential except for the two scientists or Chinese government officials. MPs on the committee previously asked for substantive summaries in place of full disclosures but to no avail.
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Winnipeg's Microbiology Lab Keeping Secrets; Roxham Road's 'Irregular' Migrants@TheMenzoid speaks with @SheilaGunnReid and @ThevoiceAlexahttps://t.co/7mXjXJIA2O
In July 2019, two infectious-disease researchers, Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, lost their security clearances at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg after they leaked confidential information to China.
The Globe and Mail previously reported that Dr. Qiu and Cheng collaborated with Chinese military researchers on experiments with Ebola, Lassa fever and Rift Valley fever.
The latter collaborated on Ebola research with Major-General Chen Wei, China’s leading military epidemiologist and virologist.
Dr. Qiu’s name appears as a co-author on more than 120 scientific research papers published between 2000 and 2021. A significant number were collaborations with Chinese scientists, and much of the research was funded by Chinese government bodies.
Subsequent reports uncovered an RCMP probe into whether they transferred Canada’s intellectual property to the Chinese government, including plasma DNA molecules that could be used to recreate viruses.
PHAC maintains they followed all protocols in spite of the shipments lacking a standard material-transfer agreement to clearly outline intellectual-property rights.
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However, CSIS promptly urged the federal health agency to revoke the pair's security clearances. Both scientists received an official dismissal in January 2021 that PHAC says was unrelated to the transfer of the viruses.
Four months before their expulsion, an access to information request revealed Dr. Qiu shipped two exceptionally virulent strains of the Ebola and Henipah viruses to the Wuhan facility, where COVID-19 is alleged to have originated.
The Trudeau Liberals unwillingness to release the documents into the infectious disease laboratory has been well documented in recent years, having survived a contempt of Parliament vote in 2021 and suing then-House Speaker Anthony Rota to prevent their release.
After years of stagnation, all House parties agreed last year to provide MPs on the special committee with unredacted copies of all the related records. Overseeing their efforts, a panel of retired judges adjudicated disputes on which unredacted information to disclose publicly.
In a February 1 letter by the judges, they confirmed a November 29 meeting with CSIS and PHAC officials on striking a balance between disclosing classified information and maintaining the integrity of Canada’s national security.
“We are transmitting to you what is in our view the maximum measure of disclosure and transparency consistent with the protection of national security, national defence and other public or private interests mandated by the committee,” they wrote.
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