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The release comes as the country is holding a special inquiry led by a judge to look into allegations that China and other foreign nations have interfered in Canadian elections and political parties. Some of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau\u2019s political opponents have charged that his government has failed to respond adequately to Chinese meddling in Canadian affairs.<\/p>\n
But Mark Holland, the federal health minister in Canada, told reporters late Wednesday that at \u201cno time did national secrets or information that threatened the security of Canada leave the lab.\u201d<\/p>\n
The couple were escorted out of their labs at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, during the summer of 2019 and later stripped of their security clearances. They were fired in January 2021.<\/p>\n
The same year, the government released heavily redacted records about their dismissal, setting off a battle with opposition parties that were demanding more detail about the security breach.<\/p>\n
The large cache of newly released documents, which have significantly fewer redactions, offer more details about the scientists\u2019 unauthorized cooperation and information exchanges with Chinese institutions. The documents also revealed that Dr. Qiu had not disclosed formal agreements with Chinese agencies in which a Chinese institution agreed to pay substantial amounts of research money. It also agreed to pay her an annual salary of 210,000 Canadian dollars (about $155,000).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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The couple could not be located, and they did not appear to have any obvious local representatives. Some Canadian news outlets have reported, based on undisclosed sources, that they moved to China after being dismissed. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police opened a criminal investigation in 2021, but its status is unclear and no charges have been laid.<\/p>\n
The documents released on Wednesday do not include any general response from the couple. But they show that during questioning by investigators, Dr. Qiu repeatedly said that she was not aware that she had broken any security rules, blamed the health agency for not fully explaining procedures and frequently tried to mislead investigators until confronted by contradictory evidence.<\/p>\n
In a letter to Dr. Qiu, the public health agency said that she \u201cdid not express remorse or regret. You failed to accept responsibility for your actions and deflected blame onto P.H.A.C.\u201d It added that she did not show \u201cany signs of corrective behavior, rehabilitation or desire for resolution of the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Canadian Security Intelligence Service also found that Dr. Qiu repeatedly misrepresented her ties to researchers and organizations in China, relationships it characterized as \u201cclose and clandestine.\u201d<\/p>\n
In one secret report, the intelligence agency said that when she was asked about her exchanges with scientists and organizations in China, she \u201ccontinued to make blanket denials, feign ignorance or tell outright lies.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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An internal investigation report for the Public Health Agency of Canada, which includes the lab, shows that the couple fell under suspicion in 2018, when Dr. Qiu was named an inventor on a patent granted in China that appeared to use research developed by the agency for an Ebola vaccine.<\/p>\n
That revelation, in turn, suggested that the couple had engaged in several violations of security rules at the laboratory, portions of which are designed for work on the world\u2019s most lethal microbes, including ones that could be used for biological warfare.<\/p>\n
Those breaches included attempts by graduate students of Dr. Qiu at the University of Manitoba, all of whom were Chinese nationals, to remove material from the lab and being allowed to wander through the facility unescorted.<\/p>\n
In one episode, X-rays revealed that a parcel delivered to the lab for Dr. Cheng \u2014 and labeled \u201ckitchen utensils\u201d \u2014 contained vials of mouse proteins. The discovery underscored that Dr. Cheng had broken protocols, according to the documents.<\/p>\n
An investigation by the intelligence agency found that Dr. Qiu had a formal agreement with Hebei Medical University to work on a \u201ctalent program,\u201d something it described as a project \u201cto boost China\u2019s national technological capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A report documenting the investigation added that it \u201cmay pose a serious threat to research institutions, including government research facilities, by incentivizing economic espionage.\u201d That agreement promised about 1.2 million Canadian dollars (roughly $884,000) in research funding. The agency said the couple did not disclose, as required, that they maintained a bank account in China.<\/p>\n
Dr. Qiu, the intelligence service said, also had a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 she used only in China that showed she was a visiting professor at three Chinese health research institutes and a visiting researcher at a fourth one.<\/p>\n
Exactly what information Dr. Qiu may have provided to China and how China may have used it is not clear either from the internal investigation or the intelligence agency reports.<\/p>\n
The intelligence service said that many of the institutions she worked with researched \u201cpotentially lethal military applications.\u201d When asked as part of an internal investigation about the potential military uses of her work, Dr. Qiu said that the idea had not occurred to her, the documents show.<\/p>\n
The internal investigation found that a trip Dr. Qiu made to Beijing in 2018 was paid for by a Chinese biotechnology company.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n