China silent on allegations of NATO spying as Beijing extends Canada anti-dumping probe

Open this photo in gallery:Two men walk past the NATO logo during the NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, on July 7.Hussein Malla/The Associated PressAllegations that China had recruited a former Canadian government employee as a spy could worsen relations between Ottawa and Beijing that had been gradually improving since Mark Carney became prime minister. The Chinese authorities did not respond to requests for comment Friday about a Canadian NATO intern accused by Belgian prosecutors of spying on behalf of Beijing. Last Saturday, Brussels said a “Canadian national of Chinese origin” working at the European headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization had been arrested on espionage charges. The Globe and Mail has since identified the woman as Biwei Zhang, a former Canadian civil servant. Prosecutors said only that Ms. Zhang was suspected of “spying on behalf of a third country and of being a member of a criminal organization.” On Thursday, national security sources told The Globe that the country in question was China. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond to a faxed request for comment Friday. The country’s embassies in Canada and Belgium also did not respond. Ottawa vetted NATO intern arrested on suspicion of espionageIn response to Belgian media, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Brussels said that “to date, no non-anonymous source or official body has reported any link to China.” “We will therefore not respond to a malicious attempt to link the two, or to false information from anonymous sources,” the spokesperson told reporters. “In our view, China and Belgium, and China and Europe in general, need dialogue and direct, sincere communication rather than unfounded, fabricated suspicions.”Security consultant Marc Thys, a retired Lieutenant-General in the Belgian military, said the arrest of Ms. Zhang is a blow for Canada and raises serious questions for all allies about China.Mr. Thys said China had become more of a concern for NATO. “China isn’t simply treated as a competitor. It’s an economic competitor always, but it’s moved more towards a threat.”China would have an interest in NATO’s technologies, plans and cybersecurity, he added. “We can’t do without China but how can we limit the influence that China has on the rest of the world?” In January, Mr. Carney enjoyed a successful visit to Beijing, during which both sides announced they were removing some tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles and Canadian canola. On Friday however, China’s Ministry of Commerce said it was extending an anti-dumping investigation into Canadian pea starch to February, 2027, because of the “complexity of this case.” On July 1, Beijing imposed a 73.5-per-cent preliminary tariff on pea starch imports from Canada after a more than 10 month probe. That investigation was announced in August, 2025, as the conflict over Chinese EVs was worsening, and has hung over the head of the agricultural sector ever since even as ties with Beijing improved. Beijing has long been accused of using trade policy for political purposes. In 2022, NATO issued a strategy document warning that China poses “systemic challenges” to Atlantic security, and “employs a broad range of political, economic and military tools to increase its global footprint and project power.” At the time, Beijing accused NATO of “hyping up the so-called China threat,” and urged the alliance to stop its “groundless accusations and provocative rhetoric.” The allegations against Ms. Zhang are not the first time China has been accused of spying on NATO members. In February, in unrelated investigations, Greek and French authorities arrested multiple people accused of spying for China, including a colonel in the Greek air force, who was alleged to have shared classified and top secret information on NATO projects. The next month, Agence France-Presse reported that China had been using fake LinkedIn profiles to solicit information from people working for NATO and European Union institutions. For years, “various civil servants, academics and other influential figures around the world have been approached by what turned out to be an agent of the Chinese intelligence services,” Belgian Justice Minister Annelies Verlinden told the news agency. “A great deal of important information and intelligence may have reached China.”The Chinese authorities did not comment on any of those cases. Responding to a question about Chinese espionage at a foreign ministry news conference in June, spokesman Lin Jian said Beijing opposed “vilifying China by peddling the so-called ‘Chinese spy’ narrative, which is totally baseless.”