BEIJING (AP) — Chinese authorities are reportedly investigating a Canadian pastor and his wife on suspicion of stealing China’s military and defense secrets.
The official Xinhua News Agency said Monday that Kevin and Julia Garratt were being investigated in China’s northeastern city of Dandong that borders North Korea.
The Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail says the Garratts have run a coffee shop in Dandong since 2008. The newspaper says Kevin Garratt is a Pentecostal pastor, that he and his wife have hosted church services in their home and that they’ve taken food and aid into North Korea with the Pyongyang government’s permission.
The Chinese accusations against the Garratts came nearly a week after Canada accused a China-sponsored hacker of infiltrating Canada’s National Research Council, the country’s top research and development organization. China’s Foreign Ministry expressed strong displeasure over what it called a “groundless” accusation.
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