Former lecturer at Chinese academy for cyberwarfare faces new immigration hearing in Canada

A former lecturer at a Chi‐ nese university which served as a military acade‐ my for cyberwarfare will face a third immigration hearing after a judge found problems with a previous decision that would have admitted him to Canada.

Huajie Xu, a 43-year-old Chinese national who has been in Canada since 2021, faces a new hearing before Canada's Immigration Appeal Division in order to deter‐ mine whether he was a member of Chinese military units responsible for cyber espionage against Canada and thus would be inadmissi‐ ble on security grounds, ac‐ cording to a Federal Court of Canada decision issued on Feb. 19.

Xu and his wife Ying Ruan live in Winnipeg, CBC News confirmed on Monday.

The Manitoba Land Titles Registry states Ruan owns a home in Sage Creek, a neigh‐ bourhood in southeastern Winnipeg.

Xu arrived in 2021 with a permanent resident visa is‐ sued as part of his wife's sponsorship application, ac‐ cording to the court decision.

The decision does not state the reason for his immi‐ gration, but notes Xu de‐ scribed his application as a lengthy process.

In China, he served for 20 years in the People's Libera‐ tion Army, or PLA, eventually rising to the rank of lieu‐ tenant-colonel, the decision states.

He also taught for 20 years at the PLA's Informa‐ tion Engineering University, or PLAIEU, which the decision described as "China's only military academy for cyber and electronic warfare and is reputed to be a centre for in‐ formation warfare research for the Chinese military."

As a student at the PLAIEU, the court documents noted that Xu took courses including:

Informational warfare and command. Information secu‐ rity and confidentiality infor‐ mation. Network counter‐ measures. Methods of net‐ work confrontation.

Detained, questioned upon arrival

Although Xu was issued a permanent resident visa for Canada, he was detained up‐ on arrival on July 10, 2021, by the Canada Border Services Agency and questioned on the basis he could be a mem‐ ber of an organization that engaged in espionage, the decision states.

The university he taught at fell under the control of the 3PLA, a department of People's Liberation Army "recognized to have engaged in espionage against Canada and contrary to Canada's in‐ terests," the decision states, adding members of that de‐ partment are inadmissible to Canada.

On July 17, 2021, the Canada Border Services Agency issued a report al‐ leging Xu was inadmissible to Canada and stated he was detained "as a danger to the security of Canada," the court decision states.

At a subsequent Immigra‐ tion Division hearing, the CB‐ SA argued Xu's employment at the Chinese university equated to "providing materi‐ al support" to the Chinese cy‐ ber espionage units and also argued his teaching made him a member of an organi‐ zation which engaged in espi‐ onage against Canada, the federal court decision states.

The Immigration Division didn't agree. In a decision in September 2021, it found no reasonable grounds to con‐ clude Xu was inadmissible to Canada, the federal court de‐ cision states.

The federal government then made its appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division, arguing Xu's work at the uni‐ versity made him a member of the units of the People's Liberation Army which were responsible for cyber espi‐ onage and which had direct control over the university.

The appeal division did not agree. In February 2023, it upheld the initial decision to admit Xu into Canada. Third hearing slated

In his own decision earlier this year, Federal Court Jus‐ tice Peter Pamel criticized the appeal division for basing much of its findings on evi‐ dence from a University of Toronto sociology and law professor who stated the Chi‐ nese military runs many uni‐ versities, and who opined Xu was unlikely to have been in‐ volved in military objectives or cyber espionage.

Pamel noted that profes‐ sor admitted he does not have extensive knowledge of military universities in China.

"Although he may, as a so‐ ciologist, be very familiar with civilian universities in China, he is not an expert in military universities, admit‐ ting to not having published any articles on the PLA and to only having a general un‐ derstanding of military uni‐ versities such as the PLAIEU," the judge stated.

Pamel also drew attention to an apparent disjunction between Xu's high rank with the People's Liberation Army and statements he made about his work when he first arrived in Canada.

The justice noted Xu told the Canada Border Services Agency he was "a simple lec‐ turer at the PLAIEU teaching basic introductory military command courses," and compared his status at the university to that of a janitor or a cook.

"The issue is not whether a janitor or a cook at the PLAIEU was a member of the 3PLA, but rather whether a ranking lieutenant-colonel who was teaching military command in the main centre for cyber espionage in China was a member," Pamel wrote.

Ultimately, Pamel said he found that Immigration Ap‐ peal Decision "unintelligible" and ordered up a new hear‐ ing in front of a different panel.

A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency was unable to com‐ ment Monday.

Xu's Winnipeg law firm, Zaifman Immigration Lawyers, said it could not comment, pending instruc‐ tion from its client.

Security threat difficult to measure: Wark

Wesley Wark, a senior fel‐ low at the independent think tank Centre for International Governance Innovation, said security-related immigration cases are difficult for the Im‐ migration and Refugee Board of Canada, which must weigh

loosely-defined threats in the absence of hard evidence be‐ cause of the secrecy that sur‐ rounds foreign state activity.

He said the Xu case turns on a technical understanding about what the Canadian law deems as membership of an organization that might threaten Canadian security.

"Membership does not mean card-carrying. It means something much looser un‐ der [the] Immigration and Refugee Protection Act namely being, as the Federal

Court reasons have it, 'suffi‐ ciently involved' in an organi‐ zation - in this case as an in‐ structor at a Chinese military university devoted in part to training China's cyber war‐ riors," Wark said via email from Toronto.

"No one can say at this stage that Mr. Xu had any di‐ rect involvement in planning or carrying out Chinese cy‐ berattacks or espionage in Canada. His motives for com‐ ing to Canada remain un‐ clear. His case does not re‐ volve around any of that," he added.

"Rather it is the extent of his previous involvement as an instructor at a Chinese military academy where stu‐ dents were being groomed for cyber espionage missions that is the issue."