Xiangguo Qiu, one of the two scientists fired from Winnipeg’s high-security laboratory, was involved in gain-of-function research at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, a recently declassified intelligence document shows.
The document also says that Ms. Qiu was advised to conceal her project from the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg, as the Wuhan Institute of Virology (WIV) had asked for virus samples from the Canadian lab.
Compiled by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), the document is part of a 600-page package on the firing of the two scientists that was recently released after years of requests by MPs.
In March 2019, the Winnipeg lab shipped 15 strains of Nipah and Ebola viruses to Wuhan. The request for the shipment was facilitated through Ms. Qiu. But the declassified documents show that Ms. Qiu also sent antibodies and other material to China without prior approval.
Gain-of-function (GOF) involves increasing either the lethal level or the transmissibility of pathogens, or both. Due to its risky nature, GOF experiments on lethal viruses is forbidden in many parts of the world.
Ms. Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng, a fellow scientist at the NML, were escorted out of the lab in July 2019, and fired in January 2021 amid investigations into their undisclosed collaborations with Chinese governmental entities and the Chinese military.
Among the revelations in the documents are that the two left restricted visitors in the Winnipeg lab unescorted and allowed them to access the NML’s secure network. Some of the visitors, who were Chinese nationals, attempted to remove material from the lab, and also downloaded material from the computer network onto personal devices.
At least one of the visitors to the Winnipeg lab was from the Beijing Institute of Biotechnology, a university used by China’s People’s Liberation Army for the study of advanced biological technology. CSIS says open-source material has shown the woman wearing Chinese military attire.
The documents say Ms. Qiu gave access to at least two employees of a “PRC [People’s Republic of China] institution whose work is not aligned with Canadian interests.”
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