The “War on Terror”, the alleged “China Threat‘, wars in Ukraine and Palestine, ecological catastrophe, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and cyberattacks are rapidly changing the terrain for national security policymaking. Social movements are often directly affected. Is it possible that we are seeing the consolidation of a National Security State in Canada, similar to and further integrated with the prototype in the United Sates? Canada-China Focus, a project of the UVic Centre for Global Studies and the Canadian Foreign Policy Institute, is making available a research award directed at those in surveillance studies, civil liberties, or related fields willing to help network scholars and concerned social movements to publicly track, analyze, and inform the public about potential impacts of the emerging policies and practices related to national security in Canada. The anticipated outcomes from this award might include, for example, the establishment of an ongoing monitoring network, the creation of a dedicated web site, preparation of related partnership research grants. The sponsors are open to suggestions. Applications from individuals or organizations welcome and would include a short proposal, budget, and references. Proposals with matching funds (in-kind or otherwise) particularly welcome. Letters of intent also accepted.

Award Amount: $10,000 for one year.

To Apply: email cover letter, proposal, and references to Canada-China Focus, ccf@uvic.ca.

Deadline: July 1, 2024

Canada-China Focus is a project dedicated to creating safe spaces for discussions about Canada-China relations, preventing racial profiling, and promoting anti-racist foreign policies.

Published: May 9, 2024
Written by: Chloe Yeung and Vina Nadjibulla

The Takeaway: On May 3, 2024, Canada‘s Public Inquiry into Foreign Interference in Federal Electoral Processes and Democratic Institutions released its initial report on alleged meddling by China and other foreign actors in Canada‘s 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Commissioner Marie-Josée Hogue concluded that while the integrity of the two elections remained sound, foreign interference did occur, impacting a “small number of ridings” and leaving a “stain on our electoral process.” Hogue did not attempt to reconcile some of the contradictory testimony offered at the hearings but did stress that “vigorous measures” are needed to re-establish Canadians‘ trust in democracy and enhance the government‘s ability to detect and counter foreign interference.  The commission will deliver its final report on December 31. 

Published: May 3, 2024
Hosted by: Breanne Doyle 

"It’s Asian Heritage Month in Canada – and this month, we’re very excited to bring you a two-part discussion on the history of Asian labour in Canada.

Over the next two weeks, we’re sharing a conversation between rabble’s own labour reporter Kiah Lucero, and Patricia Chong and Karine Ng from the Ontario and BC branches of the Asian Canadian Labour Alliance. The three discuss the history of the Alliance; key moments of Asian labour in Canada; and how racism, systemic discrimination, and “othering” still shows up in Canada today."

Published: May 9, 2024
Written by: Fen Osler Hampson et al.

This series has been updated (May 9, 2024) to reflect the addition of four new pieces from our networked experts. 

Published: May 13, 2024

"I'm sharing a keynote speech delivered by Ambassador Ma Xinmin, the Legal Adviser to China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Director General of the Treaty and Law Department, at the annual conference of the Chinese Society of International Law（中国国际法学会）. This speech is a significant summary of China's stance on international law, including aspects of cyberspace governance. This year's keynote notably addressed "global rules on AI governance" in detail, marking a significant focus beyond the traditional "cyber international law" topics typically covered by the Treaty and Law Department."

Published: May 15, 2024

The WeChat blog of the Chinese Foreign Ministry‘s Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs released a readout of the first Sino-U.S. intergovernmental dialogue on AI. Very limited consensus, no agreement or material outcome.

On May 14, 2024, local time, the first intergovernmental dialogue on artificial intelligence between China and the United States was held in Geneva, Switzerland.

China launched an uncrewed lunar mission Friday that aims to bring back samples from the far side of the moon for the first time, in a potentially major step forward for the country’s ambitious space program.

The launch marks the start of a mission that aims to be a key milestone in China’s push to become a dominant space power with plans to land astronauts on the moon by 2030 and build a research base on its south pole.

It comes as a growing number of countries, including the United States, eye the strategic and scientific benefits of expanded lunar exploration in an increasingly competitive field.

Published: May 6, 2024
Written by: Al Jazeera Staff

Beijing and Paris are marking 60 years since diplomatic relations were established, with France the first Western country to formally recognise the People’s Republic of China on January 27, 1964.

But the trip also comes amid a deteriorating global security climate, with the war in Ukraine now into its third year and at least 34,683 Palestinians killed in Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza.

France has said those two conflicts, particularly Ukraine where Beijing has professed neutrality but not condemned Moscow for its full-scale invasion, will feature prominently in the talks.

Published: April 30, 2024
Written be: Ulv Hanssen

Abstract: It was recently revealed that Japan‘s Self-Defense Forces now designate China as a “hypothetical enemy”. This phrase has a controversial history that stretches back to the era of prewar militarism. In the 1930s, the Japanese military designated the US as a hypothetical enemy. After World War 2, this designation was identified as a reason for the militarists‘ view of war as inevitable. A strong taboo against labeling other countries as hypothetical enemies therefore emerged. But as the collective memory of war has waned, so has the hypothetical enemy taboo. The fact that the label is now attached to China by Japan‘s defense establishment does not bode well for Sino-Japanese relations.

Published: April 23, 2024
Written by: Yangyang Cheng

The concept of open science, like ’free market‘, is a depoliticising myth that conceals the uneven structures of power undergirding knowledge production and transmission. In this new essay for the Made in China Journal, Yangyang Cheng argues that new restrictions from the US Government on scientific collaborations with China are not an aberration due to current geopolitical tensions, but the continuation of a decades-old effort to subject academic research to state and corporate interests, as reflected in the long history of US–China academic exchange. Knowledge flows across borders have always been conditional; the question is under whose conditions and what are the borders for.

"On Thursday, May 9, 2024, a peaceful student encampment at the University of Calgary was violently attacked by a heavily militarized police raid, including the use of shields, batons, and flashbang grenades. 

The student-led encampment, established on the grounds of this public university, was forcibly dismantled at the directive of the University of Calgary administration. The students were advocating for transparency regarding the university's investments and urging divestment from those that support the Israeli military or its activities in the illegal West Bank settlements...

...Similarly on May 11, 2024, the University of Alberta authorized the use of a heavily militarized police raid to clear another student-led encampment, established on the grounds of a public university.

The University of Calgary and Alberta administration‘s actions and the subsequent police response ignite grave concern about the suppression of academic freedom and the right to peaceful protest on Canadian university campuses."

五月，我們將與加拿大各地主要機構合作，在全國多地舉辦「尋影覓跡：1923排華法案」專題展覽，以紀念亞洲傳統文化月！

China never sent troops to fight in Europe during the First World War. However, an estimated 135,000 young rural labourers were sent halfway around the world to work in French munitions factories, dig trenches, lay railway lines and remove dead bodies and unexploded ordnance from the battlefields. Thousands died and thousands more returned to China traumatized and deeply scared by what they had seen.

A new book by Mark O’Neill, published by Penguin to mark the one hundredth anniversary of World War One, outlines the remarkable and vital contribution made by these workers to the British and French war effort and describes how they were forgotten about as soon as they were no longer needed.