Fired Winnipeg Lab Scientists Lied About Relationship With China, Failed to Protect Sensitive Assets: Documents

The National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg in a file photo. (The Canadian Press/John Woods)

The two scientists fired from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg failed to disclose their interactions with Chinese entities and didn’t protect sensitive information and assets, newly released documents show.

The government tabled the long-awaited documents on Feb. 28 after years of refusing to disclose why the scientists were fired, citing privacy and national security concerns.

Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, were escorted out of the high-security lab in July 2019 and had their security clearances revoked. The couple was subsequently fired in January 2021.

According to the documents, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) assessed that Ms. Qiu repeatedly lied about her work with entities under the control of the Chinese regime. This continued even when she was presented with evidence, the documents say.

“Ms. Qiu continued to make blanket denials, feign ignorance or tell outright lies,” CSIS said, according to the documents.

Officials with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC), which oversees the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML), were in agreement with the CSIS assessment, a November 2020 document shows.

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The investigators said that Ms. Qiu’s loyalty “remains of grave concern” given her interactions with entities linked to a foreign actor.

The documents also say that Mr. Cheng allowed unescorted visitors to work at the NML on at least two different occasions. As well, he didn’t prevent the unauthorized removal of the laboratory materials, a PHAC report says.

Mr. Cheng also was not forthcoming about his collaboration with members of governmental agencies “of another country, namely members of the People’s Republic of China.”

“Dr. Cheng’s actions reflect those of an individual who is careless with information and assets in his custody and not forthcoming and truthful when questioned about these communications,” the documents say.

Health Minister Mark Holland said that back in 2019, neither he nor PHAC would have been “certain” of the extent to which China was willing to go to “influence science and obtain information.”

“I think that there was an inadequate understanding of the threat of foreign interference,” Mr. Holland, whose department oversees PHAC, said at a Feb. 28 press conference.

“A lack of adherence to security protocols and procedures at the Winnipeg labs in 2019 is unacceptable.”

Commenting on the two fired scientists, the minister said they did not disclose information on the various “scientific enterprises” that they were involved in.

“Unfortunately, there were employees who were dishonest about some of their engagements,” he said, while insisting that no information that threatens the security of Canada left the country.

The Conservatives criticized the Liberal government for allowing a person who is “a very serious and credible danger” to access the high-security lab.

“This is a massive national security failure by Justin Trudeau and his Liberal government, which he fought tooth and nail to cover up, including defying four parliamentary orders and taking the House of Commons Speaker to court,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said in a statement on Feb. 28.

Work With China

While employed at the NML, Ms. Qiu travelled several times to the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) in China, helping to train the personnel at the lab on level 4 biosafety.

She also collaborated and published papers with Chinese military researchers, including People’s Liberation Army Maj. Gen. Chen Wei. The Globe and Mail reports that one of the Chinese military members Ms. Qiu collaborated with, a member of the People’s Liberation Army’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences, worked at the Winnipeg lab for a period of time.

While still employed at the NML, Ms. Qiu filed two patents related to her area of research in Canada with Chinese agencies in 2017 and 2019.  Since leaving the lab, she has been listed as a co-inventor on a number of other patents filed in China, most recently in June 2023.

Since their expulsion from the NML, the couple has reportedly left Canada for China.  An individual by the name of Qiu Xiangguo is currently listed as a faculty member at the University of Science and Technology of China.

Ms. Qiu has not responded to Epoch Times’ requests for comment.

In March 2019, while still working at the Winnipeg lab, Ms. Qiu sent samples of Ebola and Henipah viruses to the WIV. NML authorities have said the shipments were done with the proper permission after receiving assurances from the WIV that no gain-of-function research was being done on those viruses at the lab.

However, a U.S. scientist testified at a U.S. Senate hearing in 2022 that information shared by the WIV globally has inadvertently shown that the lab is engaged in gain-of-function research on the Henipah virus, according to his research.

Documents Disclosure

It took the government four years to release the partially redacted documents on the firing of the two scientists.

During the previous session of Parliament, the government took the extraordinary step of taking the Speaker of the House of Commons to court in 2021 to prevent the release of the documents. The court case was dropped after Parliament was dissolved when an election was called that year.

In the new Parliament after the 2021 election, the Liberal government initially proposed to release the documents to MPs from different parties on the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians. However, this was opposed by the Conservatives, saying that this special committee reports to the prime minister rather than to the parliamentarians.

The Liberals subsequently formed an ad hoc committee of MPs from different parties to review the documents before public disclosure.

The Canadian Press contributed to this report.