Belgium residents react to arrest of Canadian NATO intern

Open this photo in gallery:Biwei Zhang, who also goes by the name Claire Zhang, is being held in prison while Brussels police investigate whether she passed on information to China, reports say.Hussein Malla/The Associated PressThe arrest of a Canadian intern on allegations of spying has been the talk of NATO headquarters in Belgium this week, but beyond the water-cooler gossip, not much is known about what she may have done.Biwei Zhang, who also goes by the name Claire Zhang, is being held in prison while Brussels police investigate whether she passed on information to China, reports say, while working at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, or SHAPE. Police have offered few details about the case and Ms. Zhang has not been charged.But for many of the 15,000 people who work at SHAPE, the intrigue has become all consuming.“We haven’t been told anything,” said Valerie Boucher, whose husband works at the base. “It’s such a strange story.”Ms. Boucher, who is from Quebec, was eager to chat about the saga on Friday as she sat on a curb waiting for her car to be washed at the VIP Car Wash, a few blocks from SHAPE. Ottawa vetted NATO intern arrested on suspicion of espionageHer husband retired from the Canadian military five years ago and has been working in a civilian capacity at SHAPE ever since. Everyone Ms. Boucher knows has been talking about the spy scandal and some have commented on the embarrassment for Canada, since Ms. Zhang was vetted by Canadian officials. But they don’t have any details beyond what’s been reported. The case “is bizarre,” she said before discussing how Ms. Zhang could have moved so freely around the complex as an intern. Workers leaving on Friday had little to say when approached by The Globe and Mail. Most declined to comment while others said their section had nothing to do with where Ms. Zhang worked.For those living near SHAPE, the mysterious allegations have become just another reminder of how the base is cut off from the local community. SHAPE is located along a long stretch of a four-lane highway that runs out of the small city of Mons, roughly 80-kilometres southwest of Brussels. The headquarters moved here in 1967 from France after then-French president Charles de Gaulle pulled out of the allied command (France rejoined in 2009).A young intern like Ms. Zhang, who is in her 30s, likely preferred to live in Mons. It’s a charming medieval city with cobblestone streets, a 400-year-old belfry and plenty of bars and restaurants. Even then, catching a bus to SHAPE takes 25 minutes and the service runs once an hour. SHAPE itself is hardly a state-of-the art complex that evokes the power of the world’s largest military alliance. Its collection of buildings looks dated and much of the surrounding area has seen better days.China silent on allegations of NATO spying as Beijing extends Canada anti-dumping probeRight across the highway from the main entrance, where the flags of every NATO member country fly, sits a row of vacant buildings.One used to be a nightclub called Happy Jack that locals say closed 20 years ago after it was set on fire. The charred walls can still be seen along with the forlorn Happy Jack sign. The building next door has a giant hole in the roof and still sports the faded sign of Le Topaz restaurant, which went out of business years ago. Another restaurant, Park Avenue, has been shut for ages and an empty used-car lot has been overgrown with weeds. At the Au Royal Couscous restaurant, a few metres from Happy Jack, just two patrons stopped for lunch on Friday. Both worked at SHAPE and the restaurant’s owner said not many people from the base frequent the eatery any more. He and the sole waitress, who did not want give their names for fear of losing what little SHAPE business they have, had only heard about Ms. Zhang’s case from a news reporter who came by last week. When The Globe visited Au Royal on Friday, both were eager to learn more details.Charles Hanot grew up across the street from SHAPE and he still lives along the highway. He remembers when locals were invited to use the swimming pool and gym on the base, and watch soldiers play baseball. “We could go all the time,” said Mr. Hanot who recently retired from a job at the city’s water-treatment plant. “We had a pass and it was easy to go there. The base was really part of the community.”But ever since the 2001 terrorist attack on New York’s World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the base has been sealed off. Security has gotten even tighter, Mr. Hanot said, since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. “Now it’s completely closed,” he said. “No one goes there and there is no connection with the base at all.”On Friday, he was also eager to discuss Ms. Zhang’s case during a break from cleaning his van. But after a few minutes of speculation, he shrugged and said: “They all spy on each other.”