Flags wave outside the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, in a file photo. Pascal Rossignol/Reuters
A Canadian woman of Chinese origin serving at NATO’s strategic military headquarters in Belgium has been arrested on espionage charges.
The woman, who was working as an intern, was arrested in Mons on July 24. According to Belgium’s Federal Prosecutor’s Office, she is “suspected of spying on behalf of a third country and of being a member of a criminal organisation.”
NATO did not identify any country in connection with the arrest.
Prosecutors said the “Canadian national of Chinese origin” was an intern at SHAPE, or NATO’s strategic headquarters of the Allied Powers Europe, located in Mons.
Investigators carried out searches at the woman’s home and at her place of work. The searches were carried out jointly with partner agencies, including the Computer Crime Unit.
The Federal Prosecutor’s Office would make no further comment in the ongoing investigation, it said.
A NATO official told media that the alliance has not been compromised, and that “SHAPE continues to fulfil its responsibilities without interruption.”
The Department of National Defence did not respond to a request for comment.
SHAPE is tasked with planning and executing NATO military operations and other missions in line with NATO’s strategic objectives.
Canada and Belgium are both members of the 32-nation NATO military alliance.
The alliance’s leaders have said they’re concerned about China’s “coercive policies” and aggressive actions.
“China’s stated ambitions and assertive behaviour present systemic challenges to the rules-based international order and to areas relevant to Alliance security,” reads a 2021 joint communique issued by the alliance’s leaders.
“China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal with more warheads and a larger number of sophisticated delivery systems to establish a nuclear triad. It is opaque in implementing its military modernisation and its publicly declared military-civil fusion strategy.”
The leaders added that China is engaged in military cooperation with Russia, and that they’re concerned about Beijing’s “frequent lack of transparency and use of disinformation.”
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
