RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:USA Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) 2022 Re: Biotech and ChinaMarch 03, 2024 - "The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) says it has tightened security of its Level-4 National Microbiology Lab (NML) in Winnipeg years after two scientists were escorted out over concerns about security breaches, but experts worry the back door may still be open to graduate and post-doctoral students affiliated with the University of Manitoba. "We had scientists from a hostile country not only potentially sharing highly problematic material … but in the process, likely, it appears China picked up key operational and procedural know-how from Canada," said Christian Leuprecht, a security and defence expert who teaches political science and economics at the Royal Military College of Canada.
Many of the NML scientists also have appointments at the University of Manitoba (U of M), which means some of their students have access to the country's highest-security infectious disease lab through joint research. That's how researchers with connections to the Chinese government and military gained access to the lab.
Supervisors are supposed to monitor their students whenever they are in the NML, but that hasn't always happened, as shown in the CSIS intelligence assessment of the two fired scientists, Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng. That assessment was released by the federal government last week after years of demands for transparency.
Part of the investigation looked at how restricted visitors under Qiu's supervision shared scientific data to unauthorized people using personal email accounts and USB keys.
The investigation found Qiu brought several post-doctoral scholars to the U of M as visiting scientists, who then gained access to the NML. One was a research assistant at the Academy of Military Medical Sciences' Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, which studies biological technology for the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The investigation found a photo of her conducting laboratory work in her PLA uniform and her mentor was a major-general of the PLA, a top virologist at the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences.
The woman, whose name is redacted from the documents, held a Chinese public affairs passport reserved for civil servants and staff of public institutions.
Qiu and Cheng were escorted from the lab in 2019, it was already well known that China was systematically infiltrating research and government institutions and universities around the world, so it was surprising that the government hadn't doubled down on security at those facilities.
"And it is even more surprising that subsequently it took the government five years to come out with a research, security strategy and policy for research institutions," security expert Christian Leuprecht said.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/university-of-manitoba-nml-1.7131271