By Rebel News | Created at 2024-11-06 20:33:58 | Updated at 2024-11-06 22:41:44
2 hours ago
A bombshell report from Parliament’s Canada-China Committee has unveiled that Canada’s spy agency, CSIS, issued an explicit warning in August 2018 to senior health officials about “insider threat activities” tied to Dr. Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, at the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg.
Despite the alert, which highlighted security risks involving the couple’s connections to China’s top military bio-research institutions, no immediate restrictions were imposed.
The CSIS briefing cautioned Public Health Canada about potential foreign interference and identified student programs as possible vectors for threats, flagging Dr. Qiu and Cheng. However, it wasn’t until months later, in December 2018, that Public Health Canada initiated an investigation, allowing the couple continued access to sensitive materials.
This delay proved costly: in March 2019, Dr. Qiu coordinated the shipment of live Ebola and Henipah virus samples from the NML to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV), the facility now regarded by many experts as the likely source of the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus first emerged in Wuhan in late 2019, sparking a global crisis and government overreach.
Dr. Qiu’s deep-rooted connections with China’s military research date back years. In 2013, Cheng applied for a program emphasizing loyalty to the PRC, and by 2016, Dr. Qiu had co-authored research with Major-General Chen Wei, a prominent figure in China’s bioweapons research. Her participation in the Thousand Talents Program, known for recruiting international expertise to benefit Chinese state goals, was flagged by CSIS.
The Committee’s report highlighted multiple security breaches, including incidents where WIV-associated researchers and Chinese students facilitated by Dr. Qiu had unrestricted access to sensitive areas. One notable breach involved an attempt to remove lab samples. By January 2019, Cheng was caught using another employee's passcode to enter the lab.
Despite these mounting concerns, live virus samples were shipped to the WIV on March 31, 2019.
The timing and connections to the WIV would later be at the centre of global speculation as the potential origin of COVID-19.
It was only after further investigations that Qiu and Cheng were removed and later dismissed in January 2021. The report recommends ending all PRC-linked research in sensitive sectors and applying strict oversight to institutions like WIV.
“This gap in the understanding of risk between national security and science sectors at the federal level, particularly with regard to the threat to Canadian interests posed by actions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), was illustrated in testimony before the Special Committee,” the report found.
Sheila Gunn Reid
Chief Reporter
Sheila Gunn Reid is the Alberta Bureau Chief for Rebel News and host of the weekly The Gunn Show with Sheila Gunn Reid. She's a mother of three, conservative activist, and the author of best-selling books including Stop Notley.
