The new revelations about the Canadian Space Agency, which for years kept an employee suspected of being a mole in the pay of China, show that the Canadian space program is of interest to foreign powers and that Canada’s technological secrets must be better protected than before, say experts.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
“There has been laxity in the past, we did not think it was such an important operation,” says Guy Saint-Jacques, former Canadian ambassador to China, about Chinese industrial espionage on Canadian soil. , in all high-tech sectors.
Based on court documents filed in court, The Press Monday reported the underside of an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) into Wanping Zheng, a former Space Agency scientist arrested last December for breach of trust.
Mr. Zheng is awaiting trial, and the police’s allegations have not been tested in court. But the authorities’ theory is that the official was using his strategic position to help a Chinese space exploration company that plans to soon create a ‘constellation’ of around 100 hyper-sophisticated observation satellites in partnership with a state-owned company. of the Chinese government. A case of “foreign interference” in the Canadian federal apparatus, according to the RCMP.
The documents obtained by The Press show that the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) had time to warn the Agency four times of its “concerns” about Mr. Zheng before the employer finally launched an internal investigation, three years later the original warning.
Intrusions and thefts
The file brings back memories to Guy Saint-Jacques, who often tried to convince Canadian researchers to better protect their secrets against attempts at theft or interference by Chinese government agents, when he was stationed in Beijing.
PHOTO FROM A YOUTUBE VIDEO
Wanping Zheng at a conference as a leader of the Chinese firm Spacety
“Our intelligence services know this. We had all kinds of examples of intrusions and technology theft. When I was an ambassador, I asked researchers how they protected their intellectual property. Some sent me packing! They said: we share knowledge. Alright… but in some cases there are military applications, and red lights should go on”, explains the former diplomat.
The field of space exploration is no exception to this phenomenon, he says.
“There have always been space technologies that were secret, like the Canadaarm, because there is commercial value attached to that. There has been an awareness in recent years, because we realized that China uses all means to acquire certain technologies,” says Mr. Saint-Jacques.
Military implications
“It’s great for Canada to be open about its research and to share with scientists around the world, for the good of humanity. But sometimes there are military implications. Satellite communications relay stations, for example, have direct military implications. They can be used for espionage or military applications,” adds Charles Burton, a former employee of the Canadian Embassy in China and Communications Security Establishment Canada, who now works as a senior research fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute.
Burton believes that often, research sharing partnerships with institutions linked to the Chinese state will prove to be “one-sided”.
“The Chinese regime will not apply reciprocity. They are not going to share their work, and we are not going to benefit from it. It will be a one-way transfer,” he said.
Precedents
Wanping Zheng’s case is not the first in which the Canadian Space Agency has found itself embroiled in investigations into the actions of China and threats to the national security of Canada and its partners.
In 2015, the Chinese company Maple Armor, manufacturer of fire alarm systems, bought land in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville to build a new factory there. Corn the Montreal Journal revealed that the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper had intervened to prevent him from settling there, because of the too close proximity of the Canadian Space Agency.
In 2020, The Press also revealed that a McGill University professor chosen to develop under contract Space Agency systems between 1998 and 2004, in particular a telecommunications antenna, had subsequently been identified by the FBI as the coordinator of the a spy ring that stole industrial secrets to fuel China’s missile development.