“Canada’s China Class”

How hundreds of Chinese researchers across the country were identified as undercover scientists

THROUGH NAÏVETÉ and mindless belief in the universal benefits of academic exchange, some of Canada’s leading universities have contributed to the militarization of the Far East.

From the start of academic exchanges with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the early 1970s, the government of Canada has watched and largely approved of Chinese students focusing almost exclusively on science and technology faculties at Canadian universities. Meanwhile, Canadians going to study in China have engrossed themselves in Chinese language and culture and Maoism. For most of the past fifty years, Canadian universities and authorities were satisfied with this exchange. They saw giving Chinese students the benefits of Canadian knowledge and experience in science and technology as a gift toward the economic and industrial development of China.

SINGAPORE, June 1 (Reuters) – Canada warned China against meddling in its elections during a rare meeting of the countries’ defence chiefs, its defence minister said on Saturday.

“I raised the concern of foreign interference in all the manifestations that it might take, including interference in our institutions, including our elections, but also actions of collusion against the Chinese diaspora in Canada, our citizens,” Defence Minister Bill Blair told Reuters, referring to his conversation with Chinese counterpart Dong Jun.

I bet he did.

It can be a bit difficult to keep tabs on the various inquiries and examinations into foreign interference in Canadian elections, particularly by China.

Ottawa’s latest growth industry was largely created by a series of leaks of highly classified intelligence that first appeared in The Globe and Mail, and then Global News, that described attempts by the Chinese government to meddle in the last two elections with the goal of returning the Liberals to power, if again with a minority government.

(Bloomberg) — Canada won’t allow itself to become a foothold for oversupplied Chinese goods that could pass through to its democratic allies, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said.

But she did not commit to following the path of U.S. President Joe Biden, who announced massive tariff hikes against Chinese goods earlier this month. For now, Canada is simply reviewing its trade measures toward China, Freeland said.

“Canada absolutely recognizes that China has an intentional, state-directed economic policy which is leading to overcapacity and oversupply in specific sectors,” Freeland told reporters on Tuesday. She said the Asian country isn’t “playing by the rules” when it comes to steel, aluminum, some critical minerals and metals and manufacturing products.

Intelligence regarding foreign interference sometimes didn’t make it to the prime minister’s desk in 2021 because Canada’s spy agency and the prime minister’s national security adviser didn’t always see eye to eye on the nature of the threat, according to a recent report from one of Canada’s intelligence watchdogs.

The National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA) released a report on Monday evening pointing to several schisms in the flow of information between Canada’s intelligence agencies and the federal government during the last two federal elections.