Canadian Court Overturns Immigration Decision That Allowed Entry of Ex-Chinese Military Official

People’s Liberation Army soldiers march in front of the entrance of the Forbidden City in Beijing on May 19, 2020. Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images

A Federal Court judge has overturned a decision by the Immigration Department’s appeal division a year ago that allowed a former Chinese military officer entry into Canada as a permanent resident. The 20-year veteran of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is also a former instructor at a key Chinese military university specializing in cyber and electronic warfare.

In the 2023 decision, the Immigration Appeal Division had concluded that there were “no reasonable grounds to believe” Huajie Xu, 43 at the time, should be deemed inadmissible to Canada on security grounds.

However, in his Feb. 19 decision, Federal Court Justice Peter Pamel found that decision “unreasonable” and returned the case to the appeal division for reconsideration by a different panel, as first reported by Graeme Wood, a syndicated reporter for Glacier Media.

According to the court, prior to coming to Canada, Mr. Xu was a member of China’s PLA for 20 years and a lecturer for 16 years at the PLA Information Engineering University (PLAIEU) before retiring in 2018. The court said the university “is 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.”

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has flagged the university as posing “very high” security risk due to its record of training signal intelligence and political warfare officers and conducting offensive cyber operations. The institute’s assessments of Chinese military-linked universities aim to inform Australia’s screening of visa applicants and decisions to award research funding.

The Epoch Times attempted to contact Mr. Xu through his lawyer but didn’t hear back.

Detained Over Security Concerns

According to the Federal Court’s decision document, Mr. Xu joined the PLA in 1998, at age 18, and was subsequently promoted three times within the PLA—from lieutenant to major in 2010 and then to lieutenant colonel in 2014.

He has a master’s degree in military education training from the PLAIEU, studied military management at the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, and taught military theory and strategy at the PLAIEU’s Department of Combat Command until his retirement in 2018.

Mr. Xu arrived in Canada on July 10, 2021, on a permanent resident visa issued through his spouse’s sponsorship application. After arriving in Vancouver, he was detained by the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and questioned for potential inadmissibility.

According to the court document, the CBSA was concerned “on the grounds of [Mr. Xu] possibly being a member of an organization that had engaged in espionage” through his involvement with the PLAIEU university.

A week later, the CBSA prepared a report alleging that Mr. Xu was inadmissible to Canada because he was a member of the PLAIEU, which was in turn subordinate to a department within the PLA known as the “3/PLA.”

The Federal Court document cited the CBSA report as saying, “[t]here are reasonable grounds to believe that the [3/PLA] has engaged in an act of espionage that is against Canada or that is contrary to Canada’s interests.” The court document added that “Mr. Xu was also detained as a danger to the security of Canada.”

Federal Court Justice Pamel also wrote that “it is uncontested that the 3/PLA has been recognized to have engaged in espionage against Canada and contrary to Canada’s interests.”

PLA-Linked Academy

The Federal Court said the Immigration Department’s appeal division’s decision was largely based on the expertise of University of Toronto associate professor of sociology Sida Liu. The justice said Mr. Liu is “a socio-legal researcher” with primary expertise in Chinese law and society but “not with any expertise in the PLA or its cyber espionage unit.”

Justice Pamel was in agreement with the immigration minister on this point, as during the appeal hearing the minister had objected to relying on Mr. Liu’s report and testimony.

The justice said “the Minister argued that the PLAIEU is not a traditional university but rather a military academy for the secretive cyber warfare department of the PLA.” The justice added that the minister also said Mr. Liu “is not an expert in the field of military training, and was testifying to facts regarding which he has no information and no expertise.”

According to Mr. Liu’s personal website, he is currently on leave from the University of Toronto, having joined the University of Hong Kong as a professor of law and sociology in 2022. He currently holds several courtesy appointments at U.S. and Chinese institutions, including serving as vice-president of the China Institute for Socio-Legal Studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Justice Pamel’s decision was in response to the immigration minister’s application for a judicial review by the Federal Court after Mr. Xu won his appeal to the Immigration Appeal Division. The Federal Court has exclusive jurisdiction to review the legality of actions of most federal offices, boards, commissions, and tribunals.