Canada Charges Electric Vehicle Battery Researcher With Espionage for China

Canada’s federal police have charged an electric vehicle battery researcher at Quebec’s power utility with espionage, alleging the worker was covertly sending trade secrets to China, reports The Guardian.

The arrest of Yuesheng Wang, 35, comes as Canada grapples with a barrage of accusations of Chinese interference, including allegations of meddling in its federal elections, as well as reports of secret “police stations” in the country’s largest city.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police announced the arrest of Wang, a researcher with Hydro-Québec, on November 14, following a months-long investigation.

Hydro-Québec, the fourth-largest hydropower producer in the world, is a provincially owned energy provider, overseeing the distribution of power throughout Quebec, as well as export to the north-eastern United States and to neighboring Ontario.

The RCMP’s integrated national security enforcement team (Inset) began an investigation in August after Hydro-Québec’s corporate security branch filed a complaint about Wang.

As her government prepared to release its broader strategy to deal with China, Canada’s foreign minister, Mélanie Joly, said the world’s most populous nation had grown “increasingly disruptive” in recent years.