Today’s comments were selected from Nathan Vanderklippe’s investigation into how Chinese military researchers have been collaborating with Canadian academics, with some appearing to have obscured their defence ties.
A student walks past McGill University in Montreal, March 16, 2016.Christinne Muschi
This is a great piece of investigative journalism, well done. I hope Ottawa is reading this. - TorontoGooner
With friends like China one does not need enemies. - NEA2
The information in this article is astonishing. Excellent journalism. Are our universities and the Government completely stupid? The Chinese researchers should be investigated and expelled ASAP. Is this part of the Trudeau/China money for access love fest? - ThinkAboutIt42
To be honest, I wonder how much of a problem it really is if China continues to modernize its military. The Globe and Mail, The Economist, and many other media are telling us that the peace and prosperity that reigned from the 50s to the 80s were the result of the “American-led international order.” While it’s true that there was peace and increasing prosperity in Western Europe and North America, in Indonesia, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, Chile and other places millions of people died in proxy wars between the U.S. (or the West if you prefer) and the USSR. These decades were only peaceful if you were one of the lucky ones.
Then a second question: how was such peace as there was achieved? Mutually Assured Destruction made direct confrontation between the U.S. and the USSR a folly. What kept the peace was a balance of destructive power between the U.S. and its adversaries. Since the end of the cold war, U.S. adventurism has brought chaos to the Middle East and threatened the peace elsewhere. A powerful U.S. is a threat to peace everywhere. A balance between the U.S. and its adversaries is the best guarantee of future peace and security. - danialla
Dear Nathan and Alexandra,
Very well done. Impressive work. It’s a revelation of how complacent and naive we Canadians are. I guess that one of the consequences of our living in the soft and comfy embrace of U.S. military protection is that we’re not ‘on guard’ for trouble. Constant vigilance is extremely hard to maintain. It’s human nature to become bored when playing defence. Familiarity breeds contempt and so we take our Canadian version of western liberal democracy for granted.
We overuse the word “shocking”, but I’ll admit this report is actually sort of shocking. Canadians don’t expect other nations to be taking advantage of our university systems to bolster their military capabilities. So it’s understandable that we don’t have anyone looking out for that. And the Universities are right, this is clearly a Federal Government’s responsibility. Our Canadian government has been made aware. Let’s see what happens next.
Keep going on this Nathan. This is a fabulous piece of research. We really want to see how this story evolves. Can you tell us who is responsible for this oversight. Who is the Minister? Can you get a statement? - trishee1
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