Why China Has Canada Sweating
Why China Has Canada Sweating
Quote:
Almost half of counter-espionage efforts in Canada target Chinese spies, the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service has told a senate committee.
China ranked at the top of its list of more than a dozen countries believed to be spying on Canada, hoping to glean government, technological and corporate secrets, CSIS director Jim Judd said on Monday.
"China is at the top of our list of counter-intelligence targets and accounts for close to 50 per cent of our counter-intelligence program," he said, according to CSIS spokeswoman Barbara Campion.
The senate committee is studying whether Canada needs more robust foreign intelligence gathering capabilities or even a separate spy agency like the US's CIA or Britain's MI6.
Judd's comments come as Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay visited Beijing to try to improve relations, strained since the rise to power of Canada's Conservatives in January 2006, over the jailing of a Canadian imam in China, stalled trade negotiations, and Canada's failure to extradite Chinese fugitives.
Beijing also showed its displeasure at the Canadian parliament's decision to give honorary citizenship to Tibetan religious leader in exile, the Dalai Lama, in November.
