More details in alledged spying case

A Waterdown man will be back in court Wednesday to face charges that he tried to sell classified shipbuilding information to China. The RCMP say 53-year old Qing Huang put Canada’s sovereignty at risk by potentially giving China a competitive advantage. Huang immigrated from China in 2001 and owns a house in a quiet neighourhood in Waterdown. Kelda Yuen has more.

Qing Huang, who also goes by the name Quentin, was arrested on Saturday. He lived in the house behind me here in Waterdown. I spoke to his neighbours Monday afternoon. They say this is a very tight-knit community, where most people know each other, but that Qing often kept to himself. I also spoke to an expert on the Asia region, and he spoke on how this incident could affect Canada’s relationship with China.

Neighbour: “I know him as Quentin.”

Neighbour: “He stuck to himself. There really wasn’t much to go on”

“We knew him enough to say hi and exchanged names, but other than that we didn’t really know much about him.”

In this family-friendly neighbourood, no one seemed to know much about the man accused of attempting to leak classified government documents.

In fact, there was a time when he wasn’t here at all.

Neighbour: “The property has been vacant since February.”

“Another neighbour across the street told me that Qing moved into the house about 6 years ago. Back then, he was living with a woman. About 3 years ago, he started renting the place out and it wasn’t until recently that she saw him at his house again, this time with a different woman.”

Neighbour: “I would see him once in awhile with a girlfriend or sometimes what looks like foreign students.”

Investigators knocked on his house Monday, but no was was there.

Meanwhile, this latest incident has again raised the issue of China’s ability to spy on other countries.

McMaster Univeristy Political Science Professor Richard Stubbs says if Huang was acting alone, it shouldn’t be a huge strain on relations. “We develop naval vessels for our own security and we want to be sure that the information going into the building of the vessels is secure. If he gets linked in with an attempt to gain commercial or security secrets from Canada, then that becomes more problematic.”

Back on this street in Waterdown, residents are still trying to wrap their heads around the fact their neighbour is at the centre of an international news story.

Neighbour: “It’s just shocking that your neighbour could do something like that.”

The Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a one-line statement Monday on the arrest, calling the accusations “groundless”.

Professor Stubbs also told me that Prime Minister Harper will want to be careful how he deals with this, because China is Canada’s third largest trading partner and he will want to make sure this doesn’t become a huge obstacle.

Qing will be back in court on Wednesday to face two charges related to attempted spying. If convicted, he could face life in prison.