The University of Montreal (UdeM) says two 2019 memorandums of understanding (MOUs) it signed with a China-based educational institution linked to the Chinese military never moved forward to begin actual work.
The China-based school, the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), is on the U.S. Commerce Department’s
Entity List,
added “for acquiring and attempting to acquire U.S.-origin items in support of programs for the People’s Liberation Army,” activity that’s “contrary to national security and foreign policy interests.”
When contacted by The Epoch Times, UdeM spokeswoman and senior adviser Geneviève O’Meara said, “These MOUs stated that they wanted to explore what could be done jointly between the two institutions, one related to data governance, the other related to student exchanges.”
“Both protocols have expired since and there has been no follow-up,” O’Meara said, noting that “the laboratory never saw the light of day and no work was begun.”
She further explained that “‘laboratory’ didn’t refer to an infrastructure but to bilateral workshops, for example. The pandemic meant that student exchanges could not take place. UdeM does not intend to reactivate these protocols.”
Wu Huishu, whose LinkedIn page indicates he was a law student at UdeM studying for a master’s degree in 2015-16 and a doctoral degree in 2017-20, reportedly
spoke at an academic symposium in in Guangzhou, China, in 2021 where he was described as a researcher of the joint lab.
BIT vice-president Li Hezhang and UdeM vice-rector
Guy Lefebvre signed the agreement, the article reported.
The event was also
reported, with accompanying photos, on the Twitter account of
Catherine Villemer, assistant to Lefebvre at the time and now assistant to the current vice-rector. Lefebvre was
vice-rector from 2014 to 2020 and is now an emeritus professor at UdeM’s Faculty of Law.
The BIT article said attendees also witnessed the joint laboratory’s inauguration by Lefebvre and Ding Gangyi, secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Committee at the BIT’s School of Computer Science and Technology. Certificates were also presented to the members of the joint lab’s technical committee.
In addition to Lefebvre, the conference was attended by Villemer, and UdeM law professor
Jiao Jie, described as head of UdeM’s China program.
Wu Huishu, a doctoral researcher at UdeM’s law school at the time, gave a speech on data governance.
Also at the event was Yang Chunhui, an official from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), the department that oversees cybersecurity for the Chinese regime.
One of the reasons for launching the joint lab was the recognition of “data as a basic national strategic resource,” given “the rapid development of technologies and application such as big data, cloud computing, the internet of things, artificial intelligence, and blockchain” in recent years, according to the BIT article.
The article said the event symbolized that the joint lab has entered the “operational stage in substance” and that it will carry out “in-depth cooperation to build a world-class data governance platform and international exchange platform through methods such as seminars, exchange visits among key members, collaborative education, and joint applications to undertake international cooperation projects.”
Lefebvre had
visited the BIT in June 2019 and discussed possible cooperation between the two schools with BIT executive vice-president Mei Hong, according to a June 17, 2019, BIT article.
Zhu and
Wu have co-authored several research papers, some of which were published in April 2020 or later, according to
Researchgate.net.
‘Very High Risk’ Institution
Founded by the CCP in 1940 in Yan’an, the wartime stronghold of the Chinese communists from the mid-1930s to 1949, BIT plays a critical role in supporting China’s military and its defence sector.
BIT is one of the “Seven Sons of National Defence,” a group of seven Chinese national public research universities affiliated with and funded by the MIIT, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI).
In May 2020, former U.S. president Donald Trump issued an
executive order, effective June 1 that year, to
restrict entry to the United States for Chinese graduate students and researchers with ties to the People’s Republic of China’s strategy for acquiring foreign technologies to advance the regime’s military capabilities. BIT graduates are reported to be among those who have been targeted by this order.
BIT was added to the
U.S. Entity List in December 2020. The
list is regularly updated by the U.S. Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security to identify foreign entities and individuals involved in activities contrary to U.S. national security or foreign policy interests or both.
The Epoch Times reached out to BIT and Lefebvre through several emails but did not receive a response by publication time. Lefebvre had
claimed previously that he was instrumental in securing a large sum of donation to UdeM from two CCP-linked businessmen, who also donated to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.
Zhu Liehuang and Gai Keke at BIT also did not respond to emails from The Epoch Times requesting comment.
A
number of Canadian universities, including the University of Montreal, University of Waterloo, and McGill University, have said that they are ending their partnerships with China’s Huawei. The telecom giant, which was founded by a former Chinese military officer, is said by intelligence agencies to have close ties to the Chinese regime.
Noé Chartier and Andrew Chen contributed to this report.
