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Adding another strange wrinkle to Canada-China relations, a Chinese official who oversaw research on his country’s burgeoning naval-submarine fleet has been placed under arrest in China and accused of illegally obtaining Canadian citizenship.

Bu Jianjie, who reportedly spent time as a visiting scholar at two Ontario universities in the mid-1990s, has also been charged with various corruption-related crimes and expelled from the Communist party.

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The Canadian citizenship accusation stems from China’s ban on holding dual nationalities. Despite being a scientist with access to naval-defence technology and apparent citizenship from a Western country, however, authorities have not charged him with spying.

China detained a Canadian businessman and an ex-diplomat after Meng Wanzhou’s seizure in what were seen as a tit-for-tat moves, but Canadian officials said there’s also no evidence Bu’s troubles are tied to the uproar over the Vancouver arrest of top Huawei executive Meng.