GOLDSTEIN: China – our ‘strategic partner’ and greatest security threat

How far is the Carney government willing to go in co-operating with China on policing issues in pursuit of more trade?

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Published May 02, 2026  •  Last updated 16 minutes ago  •  4 minute read

Mark Carney, left, then the Bank of England's governor, shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a group photo session for the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China, on Sunday, Sept. 4, 2016. Photo by Ng Han Guan /AP Photo

It’s alarming that Prime Minister Mark Carney, citing China as a “strategic partner,” has agreed to a secret deal on co-operating with Chinese police, given the highly controversial nature of these agreements in the past.

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Since the details can’t be disclosed without China’s permission, all we know about it is the brief description the Prime Minister’s Office released when Carney announced his EV-canola deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in January.

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This after Carney called China the greatest security threat facing Canada last April during the federal election.

According to the deal agreed to by Carney and Xi:

“Canada and China will … pursue pragmatic and constructive engagement in public safety and security. Our law enforcement agencies will increase co-operation to better combat narcotics trafficking, transnational and cybercrime, synthetic drugs and money laundering – and create safer communities for people in both our countries.”

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In testimony before the Senate Committee on National Finance last month, first reported by Blackcock’s Reporter, Senior Deputy RCMP Commissioner Bryan Larkin, referring to China as “our partner,” described the new memorandum of understanding between the two countries as a “re-enhancement” of prior agreements in 2010, 2014 and 2018.

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He testified it is similar to agreements Canada has with American policing agencies such as the FBI, DEA and CIA regarding information sharing, how joint investigations are conducted and cost-sharing, with specific sections on issues such as combatting fentanyl smuggling.

Of course, the difference from co-operating with American law enforcement and Chinese authorities is that the final report of Canada’s foreign interference inquiry last year identified China as “the most active perpetrator of foreign interference targeting Canada’s democratic institutions” with China viewing Canada “as a high-priority target.”

The inquiry and previous government reports have cited China’s attempts to intimidate or otherwise co-opt Canadian politicians and bureaucrats at all levels of government, its ongoing campaigns of industrial espionage and intellectual property theft, and its transnational repression of Canadians of Chinese origin who oppose the Beijing regime.

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Recent CSIS report still cites China as a security threat

The Canadian Security Intelligence Service on Friday released its annual report citing China as a continuing security threat to Canada “targeting the Canadian public, private and academic sectors.”

Among its security concerns, CSIS said, is a recent campaign by Chinese military and intelligence services, “posting job ads via cover companies to an expanding number of online job marketing sites to recruit Canadians with access to propriety or classified information … (China) takes advantage of the financial difficulties and career ambitions that drive some applicants to apply to these job postings.”

CSIS also cited Canada’s dependence on China for critical minerals and its “significant intelligence interest in our Arctic and those who influence or develop its economic and strategic potential” as security threats.

It said China posed an ongoing cyber security threat to Canada, including a China-linked program known as Salt Typhoon, “believed to have targeted Canadian telecommunications firms, potentially compromising customer communication data.”

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CSIS warned Salt Typhoon, “has been able to compromise major telecommunication companies in the U.S. and in other countries and access sensitive information, including call and text message data.”

For the Carney government to argue these security concerns can be put in a separate box and will have no impact on increased co-operation between Canadian and Chinese police forces as part of a deal to increase trade between Canada and China is dangerously naive.

In reality, joint-policing investigations between China and Canada have been going on for decades under both Liberal and Conservative governments.

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Policing in democracies fundamentally different from dictatorships

The problem is that policing in democracies is fundamentally different from what happens in dictatorships, where there are no credible checks on police power such as civilian oversight and an independent judiciary.

One of many examples occurred during campaigns initiated by Xi Jinping and initially supported by the RCMP known as Operation Fox Hunt and Operation Sky Net, to return fugitives living in Canada to China to face prosecution.

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In an October 2023 report by the fifth estate – “How Canada co-operates in China’s hunt for supposed fugitives” – the RCMP and federal government were accused by immigration lawyers, former Canadian diplomats and Chinese dissidents living in Canada of turning a blind eye to illegal methods used by Chinese police to gather evidence.

These included allegations that Chinese investigators entered Canada illegally, used torture to force confessions, threatened relatives of targeted fugitives living in China and operated unauthorized police stations in Canada, all of which China denied.

In another case, Canada and China signed a memorandum of understanding that China would increase its efforts to stem the flow of fentanyl into Canada in return for the RCMP increasing its assistance to Chinese police, in convincing Chinese fugitives living in Canada to return to China to face justice.

Even though China subsequently broke the terms of the protocol on how Chinese investigators were to operate in Canada, the fifth estate said, Canada took no additional action after receiving an apology from a Chinese vice-minister.

The RCMP now says there are strict protocols in place for how Chinese investigators can operate in Canada in their pursuit of corrupt officials and economic criminals.

But the concern for Canadians is how far is the Carney government willing to go in co-operating with China on policing issues in pursuit of more trade with China to lessen our reliance on the U.S. given its continuing interference in our affairs?

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