House Committee Passes Motion to Study Research Partnerships With Beijing-Linked Entities

Conservative MP Dan Mazier speaks to reporters on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on March 27, 2023. (Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press)

A House of Commons committee has passed a motion to launch a study of the federal government research grants, funds, and contributions by Canadian universities and research institutions in partnership with entities connected to the Chinese communist regime.

The motion, introduced by Conservative MP Dan Mazier, was passed in the House Standing Committee on Science and Research (SRSR) on June 6. It requires the committee to dedicate at least four meetings to study the issue, starting June 20.

The study will focus on grants provided for research collaborations with China in sensitive areas, including, but not limited to, photonics, artificial intelligence, quantum theory, biopharmaceuticals, and aerospace.

“This motion is not a partisan motion. It is not a political motion. It is a motion in the interest of research and development in Canada,” Mazier said when he introduced the motion at an SRSR meeting on June 1.

Mazier noted that the five specific sensitive research fields raised in his motion were flagged by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, which warned about the threats to Canadian national security in partnerships with Beijing in these research areas.

“We only hear about the good things associated with partnerships and funding agreements, but the reality is that there are matters threatening the future of research and development in Canada,” he said. “In order for the future, where research and development can prosper in Canada, we as members of the Standing Committee on Science and Research have a study to study the roadblocks preventing and threatening that future prosperity.”

China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers march next to the entrance to the Forbidden City (L) in Beijing on May 22, 2020. (Nicolas Asfouri/AFP via Getty Images)

In particular, the motion asked that the committee look into Canadian universities’ research partnership with the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT), an academic institution located in China’s Hunan Province. Established by the People’s Liberation Army in the 1950s, it remains under “direct leadership” of the Chinese regime’s top national defence organization, according to its website.

In late January, the Globe and Mail reported that researchers from some 50 universities in Canada have been collaborating with NUDT on research in some of the sensitive fields, including a research topic on quantum cryptology that involves studying how laser interruptions can aid eavesdropping.

Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne subsequently expressed frustration with the research collaboration with the Chinese military institution, pledging to ramp up scrutiny for future partnerships. In a Feb. 14 statement, the minister banned funding to research on sensitive topics conducted in collaboration with a university or research institute affiliated with a foreign actor or its military and national defence bodies.

Huawei

In addition to looking into the issue involving NUDT, Mazier’s motion asked the committee to study intellectual property transfers to China’s telecom giant, Huawei Technologies.

Mazier said on June 1 that despite the government having banned Huawei from its 5G network over national security concerns, the company remains heavily involved in research partnerships with Canadian universities.

He quoted the testimony of Jim Hinton, an intellectual property lawyer, who appeared before the committee on April 18, 2022: “‘There’s a transparency issue here—we don’t know who or what is being done with Canadian publicly-funded research.’”

“‘There are policies in place but the foxes [are] in charge of the hen house—the researcher who wants to get the money is the one checking the boxes to say that there’s no issue here.’”

Facing increased scrutiny, a number of Canada’s top universities have said that they have ended or are terminating research partnerships with Huawei, including the University of Montreal, McGill University, McMaster University, and the University of Toronto, among others.