{"id":64347,"date":"2024-03-28T23:02:47","date_gmt":"2024-03-29T06:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=64347"},"modified":"2024-04-30T23:07:28","modified_gmt":"2024-05-01T06:07:28","slug":"is-csis-embroiling-canadian-universities-in-us-cold-war-with-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=64347","title":{"rendered":"Is CSIS embroiling Canadian universities in US Cold War with China?"},"content":{"rendered":"<header class=\"entry-header\">\n<div class=\"entry-subhead\">\n<div class=\"entry-meta\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span class=\"byline\">by\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\">John Price<\/span>\u00a0and\u00a0<span class=\"author vcard\">Midori Ogasawara<\/span><\/span><span class=\"posted-on\"><time class=\"entry-date published\" datetime=\"2024-03-25T13:29:45-05:00\">March 25, 2024<\/time><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"jp-social-icons\"><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"custom-excerpt\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Canadian Security and Intelligence Service (CSIS) efforts with the \u201cprincipals of the largest Canadian research universities,\u201d have been so successful that it has come \u201cto the point now it is them asking us, you know, how can we work together?\u201d -CSIS director David Vigneault, speaking publicly at the Hoover Institution, October 17, 2023<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"main-content\">\n<figure class=\"post-thumbnail\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-newspack-featured-image size-newspack-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/rabble.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Vigneault-e1711391246744-1200x599.jpg\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rabble.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Vigneault-e1711391246744-1200x599.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/rabble.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Vigneault-e1711391246744-300x150.jpg 300w, https:\/\/rabble.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Vigneault-e1711391246744-1024x511.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/rabble.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Vigneault-e1711391246744-768x383.jpg 768w, https:\/\/rabble.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Vigneault-e1711391246744-400x200.jpg 400w, https:\/\/rabble.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Vigneault-e1711391246744.jpg 1236w\" alt=\"CSIS Chief David Vigneault testifying before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs in June of 2023.\" width=\"1200\" height=\"599\" \/><figcaption><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em>CSIS Chief David Vigneault testifying before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs in June of 2023.\u00a0<span class=\"image-credit\">Credit: ParlVu<\/span>\u00a0<span class=\"image-credit\"><span class=\"credit-label-wrapper\">Credit:<\/span>\u00a0ParlVu<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<article id=\"post-135503\" class=\"post-135503 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail hentry category-canadian-politics category-education category-technology tag-china tag-cold-war tag-csis vocabulary_23-ca content-type-opinion entry\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT) is warning that new research restrictions being imposed by the Canadian government raise serious concerns about racial profiling, academic freedom, and international scientific collaboration.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">CAUT executive director David Robinson\u00a0reacted\u00a0to the new restrictions announced this January stating \u201cAcademics and students of Chinese origin are already being targeted and that is creating a chill on academic research and partnerships.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Restrictions on research and academic freedom can only be justified in rare cases, must be based on fact and not conjecture, and not \u201ctarget specific communities,\u201d he stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">In the most recent\u00a0CAUT Bulletin, Robinson reiterated his concerns about the new restrictions and also about a recent federal court decision denying a Chinese graduate student a visa to study in Canada because he might become a spy even in the absence of any evidence.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cIn reaching its decision, the court drastically expanded the legal definition of espionage,\u201d CAUT\u2019s executive director stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Dr. Xiaobei Chen of Carleton University recently filed a complaint with the university in the wake of that institution\u2019s \u201ctownhall\u201d in which CSIS and Public Safety Canada addressed faculty members about the new research restrictions. The session led to unsubstantiated accusations being levelled at individuals and ended up cultivating fear and divisions among faculty, according to the complaint.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">\u201cI would like to ask what Carleton University is doing to counter this climate of suspicion and to prevent national security overreach that harm faculty and students, especially those of Chinese, Russian, and Iranian backgrounds,\u201d Chen demanded in her written submission.<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"g g-1\">\n<div class=\"g-single a-3\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><strong>New Attacks on Academic Freedom<\/strong><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The pushback is in reaction to the\u00a0New Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern\u00a0(hereafter New Policy) announced by the ministers of Health, Public Security, and ISEC (Innovation, Science and Economic Development) in January. The policy prohibits research collaboration with\u00a0Named Research Organizations\u00a0in\u00a0Sensitive Technology Research Areas.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The named organizations include a list of over 100 research institutions in China, Iran, and Russia. Those in the People\u2019s Republic of China include well-known institutions such as Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, Hunan and Sichuan Universities, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, and Tianjin University.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">The 11 sensitive research areas are defined as Advanced Digital Infrastructure, Energy, Materials and Manufacturing, Sensing and Surveillance, Weapons, Aerospace, Space and Satellite Technology, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data, Human-Machine Integration, Life Sciences (Biotechnology, Medical, and Healthcare), Quantum Science, and Robotics.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Canadian researchers working in these fields with collaborators \u201caffiliated with, or in receipt of funding or in-kind support\u201d from the targeted organizations will be ineligible for grants from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">While the list of prohibited organizations claims to be \u201ccountry agnostic\u201d and \u201cdoes not target or profile any group of people or country,\u201d this is clearly not the case. Over 80 per cent of the institutions named are in China, with the remainder in Russia or Iran. The list seems to have been cobbled together from similar lists compiled by the\u00a0Pentagon\u00a0and conservative think-tanks such as the\u00a0Australian Strategic Policy Institute\u00a0without any further justification other than the overseas institutions \u2018may pose a risk to Canada\u2019s national security.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">This includes Canadian researchers in medical or healthcare technology that \u201csupport good health and prevent, or attempt to prevent, disease\u201d who are now banned from partnering with researchers in the Beijing Institute of Technology undertaking similar research. When the world needs to accelerate research collaboration to enhance planetary health and prevent global pandemics, such measures appear as warlike overreach and counterproductive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Ironically, one of the named institutions, Tianjin University\u2019s International Center for Nanoparticles and Nanosystems, and the School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. recently announced in the journal\u00a0<em>Nature<\/em>\u00a0the joint development of a new type of graphene that is ten times more efficient than silicon as a semiconductor. What is going on?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Canada\u2019s relations with China are already the worst among the G-7. Canadian foreign minister M\u00e9lanie Joly has attempted to ameliorate relations,\u00a0reaching out\u00a0for a side meeting with China\u2019s Wang Yi at the recent Munich security conference. However, Wang reportedly\u00a0told\u00a0Joly to \u201cstop hyping up the \u2018China threat\u2019 theory, stop spreading false information about the so-called \u2018Chinese interference in Canada\u2019s internal affairs,\u2019 and stop overstretching the concept of national security regarding exchanges in economy and trade as well as science and technology.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Many Chinese Canadian researchers are already feeling targeted by earlier CSIS-University initiatives. A recent survey undertaken by York University\u2019s Dr. Qiang Zha (forthcoming,\u00a0<em>Canadian Ethnic Studies<\/em>) has shown that among researchers familiar with the CSIS guidelines for research, 40 per cent felt \u201cconsiderable fear and\/or anxiety that they were being surveilled by the Canadian government.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Zha\u2019s research also found that about 20 per cent of Chinese professors have modified their current research projects and limited communications with collaborators in China; one out of ten of all professors surveyed have prematurely or unexpectedly ended or suspended research collaboration with scholars in China over the past three years. Thirty-one per cent of professors who do not have Canadian citizenship are considering leaving Canada because of the climate of fear. These are among the most vulnerable to CSIS\u2019s racializing surveillance.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Universities are already demanding researchers at Canadian universities abide by CSIS lists of \u2018high risk\u2019 organizations but can anyone fact check or question the list? Faculty associations are under extreme pressure as threats to academic freedom intensify in the face of changing global landscapes. How to stand up to such challenges is, perhaps, the greatest test ahead.<\/span><\/p>\n<section class=\"donate-bar\">\n<div class=\"cntr\">\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by\u00a0John Price\u00a0and\u00a0Midori OgasawaraMarch 25, 2024 Canadian&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-64347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=64347"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64353,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64347\/revisions\/64353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=64347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=64347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=64347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}