Cathy McMorris Rodgers - the Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee | Official U.S. House headshot
Cathy McMorris Rodgers - the Chair of the House Energy and Commerce Committee | Official U.S. House headshot
Washington, D.C. — In a recent letter to Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA), Subcommittee on Health Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY), and Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations Chair Morgan Griffith (R-VA) have requested a briefing concerning a Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) report about the infiltration of a high-security lab in Canada by Chinese scientists linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
BACKGROUND:
Recent disclosures from Canada provide additional insight into the Wuhan Institute of Virology's (WIV) interests and activities in the months leading up to the pandemic. It was revealed that Canada's highest security lab, where Ebola and coronaviruses are studied, was infiltrated by Chinese scientists receiving secret payments from China’s military.
This information emerged from a CSIS report in February 2024 following a two-year investigation. Two scientists at Canada’s high-security infectious disease laboratory—Xiangguo Qiu and Keding Cheng—were found to have provided confidential scientific information to China. They were dismissed in 2021 after an inquiry concluded Dr. Qiu posed “a realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security” due to clandestine meetings with Chinese officials.
CSIS discovered Dr. Qiu had applied for, and likely received, a position under China’s Thousand Talents Program through the WIV. According to CSIS, Dr. Qiu lied when confronted about her actions, making “blanket denials” and “half-truths,” while personally benefiting from the arrangement.
In January 2021, CSIS recommended revoking Dr. Qiu’s security clearance: “The Service assesses that Ms. Qiu developed deep cooperative relationships with various People’s Republic of China institutions and has intentionally transferred scientific knowledge and materials to China to benefit the PRC government.” The two scientists were escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg in July 2019, had their security clearances revoked, and were fired in January 2021. Their current whereabouts are unknown.
Dr. Qiu covertly provided unauthorized access to Ebola genetic sequences, intellectual property related to Ebola research, and possibly other pathogens to China. Additionally, it was reported that Dr. Qiu used Gmail accounts extensively rather than her official government email for communications with contacts in Wuhan or associated with the Chinese military.
An application from Dr. Qiu indicated she would work for WIV for at least two months annually as part of China's talent programs enrollment requirements; she committed to "building the People’s Republic of China’s biosecurity platform for new infectious disease research." The CSIS investigation suggested that gain-of-function studies might have been conducted under her project assessing cross-species infection risks of filoviruses.
Further findings indicated collaboration between Dr. Qiu's vaccine development section at Winnipeg lab with Chinese military researchers including Major-General Chen Wei from the People’s Liberation Army.
A Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) report found that Dr. Qiu lied about an October 2018 trip purportedly taken as personal vacation but later acknowledged meeting WIV's director during this visit funded by WIV itself when presented with contradictory evidence.
For more details on this matter:
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Press: (202) 226-4972
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