Canada’s federal police, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, have charged a Hydro Quebec employee with allegedly stealing trade secrets for export to the Chinese Communist Party.
A Nov. 13 announcement by the RCMP stated that Candiac resident 35-year-old Wang Yuesheng had been arrested and charged after “allegedly obtain[ing] trade secrets to benefit the People’s Republic of China, to the detriment of Canada’s economic interests” during his time as a Hydro Quebec employee.
The notice said that an investigation began in August when the agency had “receiv[ed] a complaint from Hydro-Québec’s corporate security branch.”
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Wang is charged with four separate counts under the Criminal Code of Canada and the Security Information Act:
- Obtaining Trade Secrets
- Unauthorized Use of a Computer
- Fraud for Obtaining Trade Secrets
- Breach of Trust by a Public Officer
According to a profile on ResearchGate, Wang is a PhD researcher who worked at Hydro Quebec since 2016 with a specialty in “high capacity, high voltage novel cathodes materials for lithium ion batteries.”
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Wang also held a post doc position at the University of Arkansas in 2016.
An RCMP spokesperson told Reuters, “Wang allegedly used this position to conduct research for a Chinese University and other Chinese research centers. He reportedly published scientific articles and submitted patents in association with this foreign actor, rather than with Hydro-Quebec.”
The arrest comes just days after reports that officials from CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, had warned Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his cabinet of a campaign by the Chinese Communist Party to interfere in federal elections since at least 2019.
The allegations, according to sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity to Global News investigative reporter Sam Cooper, are as serious as federal candidates, elected officials, and their staffers accepting funds from the CCP and placing its agents into their offices.
