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

A former lecturer at a Chinese university which served as a military academy 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 determine whether he was a member of Chinese military units responsible for cyber espionage against Canada — and thus would be inadmissible on security grounds, according 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 neighbourhood in southeastern Winnipeg.

Xu arrived in 2021 with a permanent resident visa issued as part of his wife's sponsorship application, according to the court decision.

The decision does not state the reason for his immigration, but notes Xu described his application as a lengthy process.

In China, he served for 20 years in the People's Liberation Army, or PLA, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, the decision states.

He also taught for 16 years at the PLA's Information 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 information 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 security and confidentiality information.
• Network countermeasures.
• Methods of network confrontation.

Detained, questioned upon arrival

Although Xu was issued a permanent resident visa for Canada, he was detained upon arrival on July 10, 2021, by the Canada Border Services Agency and questioned on the basis he could be a member 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 interests," the decision states, adding members of that department are inadmissible to Canada.

On July 17, 2021, the Canada Border Services Agency issued a report alleging 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 Immigration Division hearing, the CBSA argued Xu's employment at the Chinese university equated to "providing material support" to the Chinese cyber espionage units and also argued his teaching made him a member of an organization which engaged in espionage 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 conclude Xu was inadmissible to Canada, the federal court decision states.

The federal government then made its appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division, arguing Xu's work at the university made him a member of the units of the People's Liberation Army which were responsible for cyber espionage 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 Justice Peter Pamel criticized the appeal division for basing much of its findings on evidence from a University of Toronto sociology and law professor who stated the Chinese military runs many universities, and who opined Xu was unlikely to have been involved in military objectives or cyber espionage.

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

"Although he may, as a sociologist, be very familiar with civilian universities in China, he is not an expert in military universities, admitting to not having published any articles on the PLA and to only having a general understanding of military universities 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 lecturer 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 Appeal Decision "unintelligible" and ordered up a new hearing in front of a different panel.

A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency was unable to comment Monday.

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

Security threat difficult to measure: Wark

Wesley Wark, a senior fellow at the independent think tank Centre for International Governance Innovation, said security-related immigration cases are difficult for the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, which must weigh loosely-defined threats in the absence of hard evidence because of the secrecy that surrounds 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 under [the] Immigration and Refugee Protection Act — namely being, as the Federal Court reasons have it, 'sufficiently involved' in an organization — in this case as an instructor at a Chinese military university devoted in part to training China's cyber warriors," Wark said via email from Toronto.

"No one can say at this stage that Mr. Xu had any direct involvement in planning or carrying out Chinese cyberattacks or espionage in Canada. His motives for coming to Canada remain unclear. His case does not revolve around any of that," he added.

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