Canadian academics have collaborated on dozens of projects with Chinese military researchers – some of whom appear to have obscured their defence ties – raising concerns that Canada is inadvertently helping China modernize its armed forces.
The academic exchanges, jointly advancing technologies such as secure communications, satellite-image processing and drones, include the enrollment of Chinese defence scientists as graduate students and visiting scholars at Canadian universities, The Globe and Mail has found.
A Globe survey found that scholars with at least nine Canadian institutions – from smaller campuses such as Nipissing University to top engineering schools such as the University of Waterloo – have conducted research in partnership with Chinese military scholars. For instance, an expert in advanced computer simulations who was an adjunct professor at McGill University has also taught at the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), which reports directly to the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party.
In fact, Canada has become the third-largest global destination for such researchers, according to a report published this week by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, which has catalogued People’s Liberation Army sponsorship of 2,500 military scientists and engineers for studies abroad since 2007.
The overseas movement of Chinese military scientists “raises questions about technology transfer, because they’re ultimately doing it to develop skills and learn ideas that will help the Chinese military,” writes the report’s author, Alex Joske, who adds that “helping a rival military develop its expertise and technology isn’t in the national interest, yet it’s not clear that Western universities and governments are fully aware of this phenomenon.”
Canadian universities say it is the responsibility of the federal government, not individual schools, to decide which foreign researchers can enter the country. University ethics policies generally seek to minimize the potential for harmful application of their research and require transparency, with open publication of results. But none of the universities that responded to Globe requests had specific protocols in place to deal with the transfer of technology to countries such as China that are increasingly seen as military competitors by Canada and its allies.
“Most organizations, including universities, cannot make assessments on issues of national security. If the government of Canada provides us advice on national-security matters, we act on that advice,” said Matthew Grant, the director of media relations at the University of Waterloo.
That has left few obstacles to what Richard Fisher, a senior fellow on Asian military affairs at the International Assessment and Strategy Center think tank, calls “the global Chinese intelligence vacuum cleaner” – an effort to scour the world for dual-use technology, which has both civilian and military value. The aims have been broad, from seeking materials for space weapons to technology for next-generation hypersonic missiles, and such work “has been immensely profitable for China’s military modernization,” Mr. Fisher said.
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