Spy director says Canada ‘blocked’ Chinese acquisitions over espionage concerns – National | 24CA News
The head of Canada’s home spy company says the nation has blocked Chinese acquisitions of property near “strategic” belongings over espionage considerations.
David Vigneault, the director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), mentioned in an interview with CBS News Sunday that the company has recognized makes an attempt by actors linked to the Chinese authorities to snap up areas near delicate Canadian belongings.
“We have seen in the past acquisitions of land, acquisitions of different companies, where when you start to dig a little bit further you realize there is another intent,” Vigneault mentioned on 60 Minutes, in a clip that aired Sunday night time.
“We have seen and blocked attempts by the (People’s Republic of China, or PRC) to acquire locations near sensitive, strategic assets of the country where we knew the ultimate purpose was for spying operations.”
In the interview clip, Vigneault didn’t elaborate on what belongings he was referring to. CSIS didn’t reply to a request for remark Monday.
Vigneault was talking throughout an unprecedented interview of safety chiefs from the Five Eyes — a safety partnership that features Canada, the U.S., the U.Ok., Australia and New Zealand. The 5 spymasters gathered final week at Stanford University for a panel dialogue about rising applied sciences and nationwide safety.
Select Canadian media retailers had been invited to journey to California to attend, however weren’t provided an interview with the CSIS director.
While the dialog was billed as a dialogue about how new expertise — resembling synthetic intelligence or quantum computing — will have an effect on nationwide safety, it turned very clear in a short time that the intelligence chiefs had been centered totally on the Chinese authorities.
“At the end of the day, the threat posed by the government of China represents an existential threat not just to our innovations, but also to our security and our way of life. And that’s why the five of us are here together for this unprecedented event,” mentioned FBI Director Christopher Wray, who convened the assembly, at a press convention final week.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa Monday, Defence Minister Bill Blair — who previously served because the minister liable for CSIS — mentioned that Canada had blocked Chinese purchases of Canadian belongings “many times” over espionage considerations.
“I am quite familiar with the work that Canada has done to protect our national interests, the protection of critical infrastructure. And I’m not going to talk in any detail about the intelligence we relied upon or even that actions have been taken,” Blair informed reporters.
“I’ve been a member of this cabinet now for over six years, and we have engaged in many such actions over the past six years.”
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme, who was on Parliament Hill for an unrelated committee look, mentioned he had not heard Vigneault’s feedback and didn’t converse to them.
Duheme mentioned that the investigation into alleged “police stations” arrange by the Chinese authorities on Canadian soil is ongoing. The Chinese authorities is alleged to have embedded safety officers in a number of areas round Canada who allegedly harassed members of the Chinese-Canadian group.
“I encourage the citizens of those different neighbourhoods, Toronto, Vancouver, as well as Montreal, to come forward if they’ve experienced intimidation or anything that they wish to share with us that would help us in the overall investigation,” Duheme mentioned.
Former Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino informed a parliamentary committee in May that the RCMP had shut down so-called police stations in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal.
It’s unclear why the Five Eyes safety alliance is making such a public push towards Chinese espionage at this juncture. Wray informed 60 Minutes that the FBI has roughly 2,000 investigations into the Chinese authorities trying to steal mental property and different state secrets and techniques.
“When people talk about stealing innovation or intellectual property, that’s not just a Wall Street problem. That’s a Main Street problem,” Wray informed the interviewer.
“It’s not some abstract concept, it has flesh and blood, kitchen table consequences.”
— with recordsdata from the Canadian Press and Jillian Piper.
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