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Thanks for the report, Oliver. I’d appreciate others sending their view if possible. My own take is that the Canadian government is following U.S. directives too closely, starting with Meng’s arrest back in December of 2018. By doing this, the Canadian government enabled the
U.S. to enforce an extraterritorial legislation. That was the first escalation of the U.S. trade war with China in its attempt to limit it technological development. The Biden administration has made things much worse, although Janet Yellen has tried to patch
things up in recent days. In my view, the Canadian government should conduct its own assessments on what’s best for the country in its foreign affairs: is it really the case that merely following U.S. policy will maximize
its interest? I doubt it. Perhaps a multipolar world is better than one dominated by a single super-power. The United States has been at war over the vast majority of its existence as a nation, and the armament and oil industries have extremely powerful lobbies
that dominate its politics. Even domestically, the U.S. cannot control guns given the strength of the gun lobby. Do we as Canadians want to be ruled by this kind of worrier lobby, at least indirectly? Best regards, Gerardo __ Gerardo Otero Professor and Graduate Chair
School of International Studies Tel. Off: +1-778-782-4508 Website: http://www.sfu.ca/people/otero.html I thankfully acknowledge that I live and work in unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Kwikwetlem Nations. From: Oliver Schulte <oschulte@cs.sfu.ca>
Hi all,
I attended the CSIS research security briefing this Thursday (Canadian Security Intelligence Service). Some of you who were not there might appreciate a brief report.
The discussion ranged far: it touched on the current geopolitical situation and what position Canada should take in the rising U.S.-China rivalry to best serve the national interest. One participant reminded
us that this year is the 100-year anniversary of Canada’s Chinese Exclusion Act, a sad testament to Canada’s long-standing colonialist fear of the “yellow peril”.
More specific to the current situation in academia, the CSIS representative confirmed that they are expecting the Canadian government to publish a blocklist of Chinese companies and organizations that are
not eligible to receive support from federal research grants. I found it interesting that apparently the blocklist is not endorsed by CSIS but comes from the Ministry for Innovation, Science, and Economic Development. One of the members of the VPR’s office
said they had expected the list last month but it seems to have been delayed.
I was impressed by the complexity and nuance of the views of the CSIS representatives. They seemed to appreciate the potential tensions between national security and combating foreign interference, on the
one hand, and on the other, academic freedom, international collaboration, and the benefits they bring to Canadian science. The CSIS speaker mentioned that the Canadian public is generally not well informed about international relations. I fear - but don’t
know - that this is true of our administrators as well. My worry is that this will turn into a game of broken telephone: We start with a thorough explanation of a complex situation from CSIS at the one end, and at the other end what the SFU bureaucracy hears
is “the government wants us to stop SFU researchers from working with organizations on the block list”. Does anyone have insight into the SFU internal discussions?
Also if you were there, feel free to add more information about what was discussed.
Regards,
Oliver -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Oliver Schulte E-mail:
oschulte@cs.sfu.ca Simon Fraser University Phone: (778) 782-3390 Professor Fax: (778) 782-3045 School of Computing Science Web:
http://www.cs.sfu.ca/~oschulte TASC 1 Building 9021 Work Schedule: see home page Burnaby, B.C. V5A 1S6 Canada |