“China – Communist Slave State”

OTTAWA – Within the span of a few days last week, on opposite sides of the world, two democracies revealed how differently they answer the same threat.

In Taipei, the Supreme Court handed down back-to-back rulings upholding prison sentences for two political candidates convicted of taking Beijing’s money to subvert Taiwan’s elections. In Brussels, a Canadian woman of Chinese origin — an intern inside the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s military command — stood behind closed doors as a pre-trial chamber weighed espionage allegations.

Carney looks to influential outsiders to head Canada’s embassy in Beijing, sources say

Martin Cauchon, a vice-chair of the Canada China Business Council lobby group and former Liberal cabinet minister, is under consideration to be Ottawa’s envoy to China as both countries work to mend fractured diplomatic and economic ties, three sources say.

Mr. Cauchon, a justice minister in Jean Chrétien’s government, has a long history of developing close business ties with China. Prime Minister Mark Carney is seeking a business-friendly relationship with Beijing as he looks to diversify trade away from the United States. He has set out to double non-U.S. exports globally over the next decade.

A Canadian NATO intern arrested in Belgium on suspicion of spying for China was ordered by a federal watchdog to take a course in ethics after being found to have committed fraud in applying twice under two slightly different identities for a public service job.

Claire (Biwei) Zhang, a Canadian of Chinese origin, worked in public service roles, including at Statistics Canada, before taking up the NATO internship at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, known as SHAPE, in Mons near the French border.

You get caught cheating and still keep your job?

China is preparing for a different kind of war. Canada is still preparing for yesterday’s. The defining geopolitical struggle of the twenty-first century will not be fought solely with tanks, warships, or fighter aircraft. Increasingly, it will be contested through factories, artificial intelligence, critical minerals, supply chains, advanced manufacturing, and technological innovation. Beijing understands this. Most Western governments, including our own, are only beginning to catch up.

VANCOUVER — The Bureau has learned from a source with direct knowledge that Richmond’s mayor and city councillors were asked to attend an extraordinary closed-door briefing delivered by senior regional officials of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

Allegations that China had recruited a former Canadian government employee as a spy could worsen relations between Ottawa and Beijing that had been gradually improving since Mark Carney became prime minister.

The Chinese authorities did not respond to requests for comment Friday about a Canadian NATO intern accused by Belgian prosecutors of spying on behalf of Beijing.

The arrest of a Canadian intern accused of spying inside NATO’s senior military headquarters in Belgium reaches beyond one person or one failed security check. It shows how hostile states can combine espionage, criminal networks, technology, and trusted access to weaken an alliance without firing a shot.

Belgian prosecutors allege that the intern, who is of Chinese origin, conducted espionage for an unidentified third country while interning at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, known as SHAPE, in Mons, Belgium. They also accuse her of belonging to a criminal organization.