Canadian Universities Are a Hub for Chinese Military Tech

Monday, June 10, 2024

This week from The Walrus:

We’re so delighted to share that The Walrus won a Silver award at the Digital Publishing Awards and seven awards, including three Golds and four Silvers at the National Magazine Awards, on June 7. Nights like this recognize the importance of storytelling in Canada and the role The Walrus plays in it. Congratulations to all the winners and nominees, the writers, artists, photographers, editors, fact checkers, and everyone on the team for contributing to this haul of wins.

Canada’s Universities Are a Pipeline for Chinese Military Technology

How hundreds of Chinese researchers across the country were identified as undercover scientists

BY JONATHAN MANTHORPE

In a black-and-white classroom setting, a person raises their hand, their silhouette filled in with the red and yellow Chinese flag.

From the start of academic exchanges with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the early 1970s, the government of Canada has watched and largely approved of Chinese students focusing almost exclusively on science and technology faculties at Canadian universities. Meanwhile, Canadians going to study in China have engrossed themselves in Chinese language and culture and Maoism. For most of the past fifty years, Canadian universities and authorities were satisfied with this exchange. They saw giving Chinese students the benefits of Canadian knowledge and experience in science and technology as a gift toward the economic and industrial development of China.

Around the year 2000, however, Beijing and its People’s Liberation Army (PLA) realized that here was an opportunity to grab or develop technology for their program of rapid military modernization that had begun a decade before.

Read the story

A black-and-white photo of Umar Zameer in front of a red and blue background image of a Toronto courthouse.

The Murder Trial That Exposed Toronto’s Police Misconduct Crisis

Disturbing allegations of police collusion come to light after Umar Zameer’s acquittal in officer’s death

BY MICHAEL KEMPA

A hand adjusts a thermostat against a backdrop of ocean waves.

As Temperatures Rise, So Does Pressure to Engineer the Ocean

New technology might help us combat the climate crisis. But is it safe to tinker with the seas?

BY MOIRA DONOVAN

An illustration of Rachel Cusk's head, appearing three times, interrupted by static. The background is a swirl of pink, purple, and blue.

Rachel Cusk’s Parade Turns the Novel Upside Down

In the book, characters exist, sort of, but they’re mostly artists, and they’re almost all named G

BY ARIELLA GARMAISE

How the “Queen of Canada” and Conspiracy Theorists Splintered a Small Town

Romana Didulo is believed to be one of the most active conspiracy figures in North America

BY RACHEL BROWNE

A photograph of the poet, a man with his chin in his hand and looking toward the right of the frame, against a periwinkle-blue background.

Recess

Beyond hopscotch chalked-out boxes, / gravel started, then a diamond

BY DAVID O'MEARA

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This newsletter was produced by CIBC Digital Journalism Fellow Makda Mulatu. Email us at letters@thewalrus.ca and your letter may be included in a future issue of The Walrus.