How Canadian Universities Collaborated With Chinese Institutes Now Declared a Risk

University freshmen take part in a military education and drill session at the beginning of the new semester in Yangzhou in China's eastern Jiangsu province on Sept. 4, 2018. (STR/AFP via Getty Images)

Before Canada’s recent designation of 85 Chinese academic institutions as potential threats to national security, several Canadian universities had engaged in extensive interactions with some of those institutions.

The list of Named Research Organizations released Jan. 16 is part of Ottawa’s Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern, introduced to bolster Canadian universities’ research security.

However, many of the collaborations, in particular those between individual professors in Canada and China, remain undisclosed. Some instances indicate ongoing research partnerships and academic exchanges involving several leading universities within Canada’s U15 group, such as University of Waterloo, University of Toronto, University of British Columbia, and McGill University.

There are also a few Canadian schools, including University of Saskatchewan, and Saint Mary’s University in Halifax, that continue to host the controversial Confucius Institute, which has faced long-standing concerns over alleged undue Chinese influence.

The research collaborations span fields now deemed by the feds as “Sensitive Technology Research Areas.” They include artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, biotechnology, quantum science, robotics and autonomous systems, and aerospace, space, and satellite technology.

For instance, McGill University states on its “Global Engagement” webpage that its scholars have co-authored nearly 5,300 publications with China-based researchers. Among the international funding sources listed by McGill is the Canada-China Scholars’ Exchange Program (CCSEP) run by Global Affairs Canada (GAC). CCSEP is the first among five featured scholarships on the federal government’s EduCanada website as seen on Jan. 26.

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EduCanada’s CCSEP page says GAC and the Chinese Education Ministry offer post-secondary scholarships to Canadians wishing to study, do research, or undertake Chinese language training at participating Chinese institutions. The page links to the Campus China website, which lists some 300 Chinese academic institutions where people can apply for scholarships.

Among them, around a dozen are on the Named Research Organizations list, including seven known as the “Seven Sons of National Defence” due to their close affiliations with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the primary military force of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The Epoch Times reached out to McGill University for comment but didn’t hear back by publication time.

Seven Sons of National Defence

The Seven Sons are Beihang University, Beijing Institute of Technology, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin Institute of Technology, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, and Northwestern Polytechnical University. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute has designated all seven as posing “very high” security risks due to their close collaborations with the PLA.

The Seven Sons have engaged in collaborations with Canadian universities and often in fields of research designated as sensitive.

Beihang Institute says on its website that in 2012 it established an international research centre called the International Workshop on Big Data Science and Engineering in partnership with various well-known institutions. These include the  University of Ottawa and several U.S. and UK universities. Big data is a key field identified in Ottawa’s list of “Sensitive Technology Research Areas.”

In September 2013, the research centre was recognized as a National Centre for International Research,” overseen by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology.

Citing a PRC policy on how such a centre is to be managed, Beihang Institute noted that it seeks to establish “strong collaboration with renowned universities” to engage in international partnerships, including “supporting foreign experts to engage with the centre in teaching and research, facilitating close exchanges and visits between teachers and students in teaching and research, and co-publishing academic papers.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the University of Ottawa for comment but didn’t hear back by publication time.

‘Becoming More Vigilant’

In an October 2023 report, Washington, D.C.-based Frontier Assessments Unit (FAU), which conducts defence- and security-related strategic assessments, identified 371 titles of publications that Toronto-based universities such as University of Toronto and Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) co-published with the Seven Sons. A significant number of those studies fall under the designated sensitive areas, like AI, robotics, quantum, and biomedical technology.

Harbin Institute of Technology led with 141 collaborative titles. It was followed by the Beijing Institute of Technology with 63, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics with 61, Beihang University with 53, Nanjing University of Science and Technology with 34, Northwestern Polytechnical University with 17, and Harbin Engineering University with 13.

FAU co-founder LJ Eads, a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer, described Ottawa’s new measure of listing foreign institutions with potential security risks as “a proactive approach to national security.”

It aligns with a “growing global trend where countries are becoming more vigilant about protecting their technological and research advancements,” he told The Epoch Times.

“The identification of these institutions, particularly in a landscape of increasing geopolitical tensions and technology rivalry, suggests a careful balancing act between maintaining international research collaborations and protecting national interests.”

Mr. Eads said that while this policy may limit some historical collaborations contributing to scientific and technological advancements, it will do more to increase awareness among Canadian scholars and universities on the risks and implications of partnering with specific foreign entities, particularly those from China.

“It could lead to a more cautious and scrutinized approach to international collaborations, ensuring that such partnerships align with national security interests,” he said. “Universities and researchers will likely become more vigilant in their due diligence processes, assessing potential collaborations against the backdrop of these new government guidelines.”

The Epoch Times reached out to the University of Toronto and TMU for comment but didn’t hear back by publication time.

Confucius Institutes

Apart from research partnerships, some Canadian schools have other contentious engagements with Chinese entities, such as the operation of the Confucius Institutes (CIs) supervised by China’s Ministry of Education.

While CIs appear to function as non-profit public educational organizations, promoting Chinese language and culture globally, they have long faced scrutiny over alleged Chinese interference with academic freedom, national security threats, and other undue Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence.

According to the U.S. State Department, “CIs are frequently staffed by a combination of Chinese scholars, local faculty, and CCP-selected Chinese instructors who teach a narrow, CCP-sanctioned version of Chinese language, history, and culture.”

In 2020, the U.S. State Department designated the Washington-D.C.-based Confucius Institute U.S. Center as a PRC “foreign mission,” identifying it as the de factor headquarters of the CI network. It said CI programs receive partial funding from the PRC and are under the guidance of the CCP’s United Front Works Department, a key foreign interference body of the Chinese regime.

University of Saskatchewan (USask) remains one of the few Canadian universities with an active CI on campus. A USask spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the school’s relationship with the CI is founded on “the belief that universities can transcend even profound political differences.”

“There is no shared research or research activity, and no sharing or exchange of intellectual property,” media relations specialist Daniel Hallen said in an email.

Many Canadian educational institutes have ended their contracts with CIs in recent years.

In ending the relationship of CIs with his province’s school system in 2019, then-New Brunswick Education Minister Dominic Cardy told CBC that the function of CIs is “to create a friendly, cheerful face for a government that is responsible for more deaths than nearly any other in the history of our species.”