On September 14th, the lower house of the Swiss Parliament passed the “Improving Relations with Taiwan” bill by an overwhelming majority. The bill will require the Swiss Federal Council to submit a report on how to deepen relations with Taiwan in the economic, trade, political, scientific and cultural fields.

Yan Minru, a Taiwanese writer who has lived in Switzerland for more than three decades, told Radio Free Asia that Taiwan’s success in combating COVID, coupled with four recent China-related incidents in Switzerland, alerted Switzerland to the infiltration from China and made them realize that they should start to support Taiwan.

Those four China-related incidents are described as follows:
1. During the Hong Kong protest, Zurich University of the Arts used an art exhibit to show support for Hong Kong protesters. The Chinese embassy pressured the university, telling them not to interfere with China’s internal affairs. The university insisted they had the right to freedom of speech and it would be unconstitutional if they gave in and cancelled the exhibition. Their position was well received by the media.

2. Gerber, a Ph.D. student at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, criticized China on twitter. His professor and adviser then received threats from some Chinese students. The university asked Gerber to find another adviser. Since Gerber studied China’s environmental pollution which is a sensitive subject, Gerber was unable to find a new adviser. He had to drop out of school and wasted three years of research work.

3. About two years ago, for about a year, the Swiss German-language weekly Le Monde published articles written by a former Chinese ambassador to Switzerland on a monthly basis. The articles were full of propaganda. New Zurich Daily later exposed that the articles were published through the process of trade involving a paid advertisement with the Chinese embassy.

4. A large number of Chinese were smuggled into Switzerland. The Swiss government allowed several Chinese officials to come to Switzerland to verify the status of the refugees. The process lasted for two weeks. The Swiss government even paid for the Chinese officials’ airfare, hotel accommodations, health insurance, and gave them a US$217 daily allowance. They even let these officials use the Swiss office facilities. It caused strong public opposition.

Source: Radio Free Asia, September 15, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/gangtai/hx2-09152021082637.html

According to the Canadian newspaper, The Globe and Mail, a former scientist at Canada’s National Laboratory had a close, cooperative research relationship with a Chinese PLA Major General who was praised in China for developing a COVID 19 vaccine.

While working at the Winnipeg National Laboratory in Canada, Qiu Xiangguo collaborated with Chinese PLA general Chen Wei while doing Ebola virus research. Both of them published papers on their research results in 2016 and 2020. However, there was no mention in the research process or in the paper’s publication that Chen is a military major general and a virologist. She was described as a Ph.D. from the Beijing Biotechnology Research Institute.

Three Canadian scientists involved in the study said they did not know Chen’s true identity and that Qiu did not disclose her cooperation with the Chinese scientists either.

It was later confirmed that Chen is a major general in the People’s Liberation Army and a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Xi Jinping praised Chen’s team for developing China’s COVID vaccine.

The first to discover the relationship between Chen and Qiu was Canadian writer Elaine Dewar, who was conducting an investigation into the origin of COVID 19. She found a close relationship between the National Laboratory in Winnipeg and the Wuhan Laboratory in China. She then documented the relationship in her recent book, “On the Origin of the Deadliest Pandemic in 100 Years: An investigation.”

Qiu Xiangguo and her scientist husband, Cheng Keding, were expelled from the Winnipeg National Laboratory in July 2019. They were fired in January 2020, but Ottawa would not comment on the reason.

Source:
1. Radio Free Asia, September 17, 2021
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/yataibaodao/kejiaowen/lf-09172021140553.html
2. The Globe and Mail, September 16, 2021
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-chinese-pla-general-collaborated-with-fired-scientist-at-canadas-top/