【By Observer News, Qi Qian】

David Vigneault was the former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), who frequently promoted the "China threat" during his tenure. After leaving office, he has not changed his ways, continuing to fabricate unfounded charges and spreading the "China espionage" theory without any evidence.

According to The Guardian, on December 7th local time, Vigneault, while attending an intelligence conference in The Hague, claimed that Western countries should pay attention to the infiltration of "adverse intelligence agencies" into Western universities and enterprises. During an interview, he consistently pointed the finger at China, falsely accusing China of conducting "industrial-scale" technology theft from the Western academic community.

Vigneault said: "The front lines have shifted; we need to shift our focus from government information to innovation in the private sector, research innovation, and universities."

He then resorted to clichés such as "technology theft" and "cyber attacks," attacking China without basis. He claimed that after the 2003 Iraq War, China began investing in "asymmetric capabilities" and tried to "steal" technological knowledge from the West. Currently, China is acquiring sensitive technologies through a combination of cyber attacks, undercover agents, and recruitment of university staff.

Vigneault said that during his time as the head of CSIS, he witnessed various methods of "technology theft," with university employees being recruited due to their "naivety, ideology, or greed."

He admitted that accusations against China might lead to the rise of racism, but he showed no remorse, claiming that "national security" was the top priority.

During the interview, Vigneault also talked about Russia and the United States. He claimed that he had obtained "sophisticated" intelligence before the Ukraine-Russia conflict, but European dependence on Russian energy led to a relaxed vigilance. He also said that Canada needs to take a pragmatic approach towards the United States, meaning "building sovereign capabilities" in key information security areas, including developing "sovereign cloud capabilities."

Former head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, Vigneault, Canadian media

According to The Guardian and Reuters, Vigneault worked at the Canadian Security Intelligence Service for seven years, and left in July last year. He now serves as the Managing Director at the U.S. intelligence company Strider. During his tenure, he led the so-called issues of "Chinese interference in Canadian elections" and "data theft" without any basis.

In February 2021, Vigneault publicly claimed that China posed a serious "strategic threat" to Canada. Without providing any evidence, he stated that hostile actions by state actors attempting to steal commercial secrets and sensitive data "pose a significant threat to Canada's prosperity and sovereignty," specifically naming China.

At that time, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Wang Wenbin, refuted these remarks, stating that they were baseless and that China firmly opposed them. We urge some politicians in Canada to abandon Cold War thinking and ideological prejudice, stop the groundless smear campaigns against China, stop spreading alarmist rhetoric, and do more things that are beneficial to Sino-Canadian relations and enhance mutual trust between the two countries.

Just this March, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service again claimed that China, India, and other countries may attempt to interfere in the upcoming Canadian election on April 28, and accused China of "highly likely" using artificial intelligence tools to interfere in the election. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guo Jiajun, reiterated that China has always adhered to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries and has never shown interest in interfering in Canada's internal affairs.

In recent years, Western countries led by the United States have frequently promoted topics such as "Chinese spies" and "technology theft," politicizing academic issues.

It is worth noting that in January last year, the Australian website "Pearl and Stimulus" published an article written by John Price, a deputy researcher at the Global Research Center and advisor to the "Canada-China Focus" project. The article was titled "How Canada's 'China panic' was orchestrated by the Five Eyes (U.S., Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service."

The report revealed the close collaboration between Canada's U15 research university alliance (an organization consisting of 15 top Canadian research universities) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

This report explores how David Vigneault first came into contact with U15 in 2018, when the CIA and FBI claimed that China was using espionage to steal research secrets from Canadian universities. The report points out that U15 did not conduct any form of scientific review of the claims made by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, resulting in new research guidelines that led to racial stereotyping in universities. The Canadian government is currently preparing to significantly expand research restrictions.

Actually, since 2019, Canadian intelligence agencies have been trying to blame China, listing it and Russia as countries that use the "open culture" of universities to gain knowledge and technology, considering Chinese espionage as the most important and clear challenge faced by Canadian universities.

At that time, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Geng Shuang, pointed out that such statements were completely false and malicious.

"I would like to emphasize that in the 21st century, international cooperation is an inevitable requirement for the development of science and technology, and people-to-people exchanges are an unstoppable trend of the times. Sino-Canadian people-to-people exchanges help enhance mutual understanding and recognition between the two countries, which is in line with the fundamental interests of both countries," the spokesperson said. The Chinese side urged the few people in Canada to abandon Cold War thinking and ideological prejudice, and do more things that are beneficial to the development of bilateral relations rather than the opposite.

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Original: toutiao.com/article/7581420811513315876/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.