{"id":9415,"date":"2026-07-31T02:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/9415\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T02:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T02:22:11","slug":"nato-intern-arrested-in-belgium-on-suspicion-of-spying-for-china-source-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/9415\/","title":{"rendered":"NATO intern arrested in Belgium on suspicion of spying for China, source says"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey on July 7. NATO\u2019s 2022 Strategic Concept document notes that China poses ‘systemic challenges’ to Euro-Atlantic security.Hussein Malla\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

A Canadian NATO intern arrested in Belgium is accused by prosecutors in that country of spying for China, a national security source told The Globe and Mail.<\/p>\n

Since announcing the arrest of the intern on Saturday, Belgian authorities have not released the name of the woman, but the source identified her to The Globe as Biwei Zhang, who also goes by the name Claire Zhang. <\/p>\n

The source said Ms. Zhang\u2019s North Atlantic Treaty Organization posting was sponsored by Global Affairs Canada and that the department was responsible for her security check. Global Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

A second national-security source also confirmed that the allegations involve China. The Globe is not identifying the sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly about the case.<\/p>\n

Public records and Ms. Zhang\u2019s social media profiles indicate that she has a history of working at federal agencies in Ottawa, including at the national space agency and Statistics Canada. <\/p>\n

Carter Mann, head of media relations at Statistics Canada, said the agency takes \u201cthis matter very seriously,\u201d but declined to comment further. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will continue to collaborate domestically and with our international partners to protect national security and preserve the integrity of the investigative process,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

A federal court decision shows that, in 2023, the Public Service Commission of Canada found that Ms. Zhang committed fraud when she applied for the same job twice at the Canada Border Services Agency and didn\u2019t alert anyone that both applications were from the same person. <\/p>\n

Ms. Zhang submitted applications from two e-mail addresses, one from York University and the other from the University of Montreal, and twice wrote the same standardized exams in an effort, the commission found, \u201cto increase her chances of being appointed.\u201d<\/p>\n

She sought judicial review of the commission\u2019s ruling, but a federal court judge dismissed her appeal in 2024, records show. <\/p>\n

Ms. Zhang has not made any public comment on the allegations against her since her detention, nor has \u200cany lawyer \u2060acting on her behalf.<\/p>\n

Ottawa vetted NATO intern arrested on suspicion of espionage<\/a><\/p>\n

A spokesperson for York University told The Globe that security officials recently contacted the school to inquire about Ms. Zhang, who received an undergraduate degree from the school in economics in 2019.<\/p>\n

An individual named Biwei Zhang, born in 1993, co-owns a property in North York, just south of the York University campus. A neighbour told The Globe that they believed the property was being rented out. <\/p>\n

A woman listed as a co-owner of the property, but who lives in a nearby townhouse, declined to answer questions when she was approached by a Globe reporter on Thursday. <\/p>\n

Ms. Zhang also studied at the University of Ottawa, where she received a master\u2019s degree in computer science and systems engineering, according to her online r\u00e9sum\u00e9 on LinkedIn. <\/p>\n

In \u200cannouncing Ms. Zhang\u2019s arrest, Belgian prosecutors said the woman worked at NATO\u2019s military headquarters in the city of Mons and was a \u201cCanadian national of Chinese origin\u201d suspected of spying for a third country and belonging to a criminal organization.<\/p>\n

Beijing has yet to comment publicly on the case. China\u2019s embassies in Canada and Belgium did not respond to requests for comment from The Globe.<\/p>\n

NATO\u2019s 2022 Strategic Concept document, \u200bthe foundation of the military alliance\u2019s policies, says China poses \u201csystemic challenges\u201d to Euro-Atlantic security. In response, China\u2019s foreign ministry accused NATO \u200bof groundless accusations, smears and attacks.<\/p>\n

Jody Thomas, a former national security adviser to Justin Trudeau when he was prime minister, told The Globe that it was unusual that someone with Ms. Zhang\u2019s background in computer science \u2013 and not defence or security \u2013 would apply for and be approved to work at NATO. She said senior Canadian federal officials should be reviewing how the intern was vetted and received clearance to work for NATO. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the concern level would be very high in government. Everybody wants to know what happened,\u201d Ms. Thomas said. \u201cThere are a lot of questions to be asked.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said Canadian officials would want to review the woman\u2019s entire screening process to understand if there were any flaws in the security-clearance programs run by the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS). <\/p>\n

\u201cSomebody was monitoring her activity and discovered something that they were concerned about. So that\u2019s really positive. But how she got there, there\u2019s more to learn,\u201d Ms. Thomas said. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also possible that there were no red flags in her background that would have raised suspicions prior to her working at NATO, she added. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, or SHAPE, in Belgium said Thursday that while it \u201ccannot go into specifics regarding the criminal investigation, we can say that it concerns alleged unauthorized activities with potential security implications.\u201d<\/p>\n

CSIS also said Thursday that it could not comment on specifics of the case.<\/p>\n

But it said, \u201cCanadians can be assured that our law enforcement and intelligence agencies maintain strong relationships with partner agencies, at home and abroad, that assist in addressing threats like those described in relation to the arrest made in Belgium last week,\u201d said CSIS spokesperson Magali H\u00e9bert.<\/p>\n

Simon LaFortune, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree, declined to comment on whether a probe has been launched into the NATO intern\u2019s previous roles in Canadian government departments and agencies.<\/p>\n

The Canadian Space Agency did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Ms. Zhang has also said on LinkedIn that she played a role in artificial intelligence decisions at the Standards Council of Canada, but the organization declined to comment. <\/p>\n

On Tuesday, prosecutors said Ms. Zhang\u2019s pretrial detention had been extended by one month. A spokesperson said on Thursday that she had appealed the decision, with a \u200bruling on the appeal expected within the next two weeks.<\/p>\n

NATO reported the suspect \u2060to Belgian \u200bintelligence after observing her behaviour, according to Belgium\u2019s federal prosecutor\u2019s office. A NATO spokesperson \u200bhas said that there was no indication the incident had affected the alliance\u2019s operational readiness, command and control, or continuing missions.<\/p>\n

With reports from Reuters and Stephanie Chambers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey on July 7. NATO\u2019s 2022 Strategic Concept…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[107,90,108,80,78,109,46,77,97,98,93,79,76,103,105,102,96,88,120,81,82,95,91,92,85,110,86,115,116,118,113,117,111,114,83,100,101,50,99,112,89,104,106,94,87,84,119],"class_list":["post-9415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/nato\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}