The head of Canada’s intelligence agency spoke openly about China’s interest in partnering with Canadian universities to gain a military edge during a conference with his Five Eyes counterparts on Tuesday.
“China has been very transparent,” Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) Director David Vigneault said.
“Everything that they’re doing in our universities and in new technology, it’s going back into a system very organized to create dual-use applications for the military.”
Vigneault made the comments on stage during a rare public gathering with spy bosses from the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The head of Canada’s intelligence agency spoke openly about China’s interest in partnering with Canadian universities to gain a military edge during a conference with his Five Eyes counterparts on Tuesday.
The representatives of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance are meeting in California’s Silicon Valley at the invitation of U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Christopher Wray to discuss adversaries’ use of technology and threats to innovation and research.
Since 2005, those institutions have published more than 240 joint papers with Chinese military scientists on such topics as quantum cryptography, photonics and space science, said the newspaper.
In February the Liberal government announced it would ban all federal research grants for projects linked to “foreign state actors” that pose a threat to Canada’s national security — and urged provinces and universities to follow suit.
Earlier this month, the Business Council of Canada, made up of chief executives and entrepreneurs in the country’s major companies, called on Ottawa to update the CSIS Act so that private firms targeted by foreign interference actually know they’re in danger.
A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister LeBlanc recently said the federal government is looking at improving information sharing but wouldn’t commit to a timeline.
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