From Canada.com

 Chinese Spys In Canada

MONTREAL – Bombardier wasn’t commenting Wednesday on a report that foreign technicians were caught stealing secrets at one of its Montreal plants last year.

The newspaper report said that Chinese technicians were especially interested in computer files at one of the jet-assembly plants and that Bombardier tried to keep the incident under wraps.

Isabelle Rondeau, a Bombardier spokeswoman, refused to comment on the story and referred calls to the company’s aerospace division.

Bombardier Aerospace did not return repeated calls.

The Journal de Montreal also reported that Bombardier negotiators found out they were being spied on during a recent trip to China.

On Monday the head of CSIS, Jim Judd, told a Senate committee on national security that China tops a list of roughly 15 countries regularly conducting intelligence operations within Canada.

China has repeatedly denied spying on Canada.

Bombardier’s technological know-how and military products make it a target of choice, says David Harris, director of the International Terrorist Intelligence Program at Insignis Strategic Research Inc.

“On so many levels a place like Bombardier is something China would be drooling over,” he said.

This is a case of “all the resources of a major state and a growing super-power being brought to bear on nearly defenseless commercial interests.”

Such “competitive espionage” enables countries such as China to catch up technologically without investing the money and effort into research and development and to create instant competitors able to steal Canadian business or jobs, Harris added.

He says Canada is an easy target because it lacks the “security mindset” to protect itself from espionage. Harris said this is ironic because the Canadian International Development Agency still regularly allocates money to China.

In addition to using agents under diplomatic cover, China can also force the hand of Canadians of Chinese background by putting pressure on their families back home, he said.

Airline analysts say China is an important part of Bombardier’s future plans of lining up customers and partners for its C-Series regional jet.

They believe China could be a major financial backer and also a key parts supplier.

Canada expressed concern about Chinese economic espionage soon after last year’s change of government.

“There are some well-documented problems with the Chinese government’s operations in this country,” Prime minister Stephen Harper said in April 2006.

Posted on May 4th, 2007 by keeton
Filed under: News