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China is biggest espionage threat to Canada

OTTAWA: Almost half of counter-espionage efforts in Canada target Chinese spies, the head of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service told a senate committee on Monday. China ranked at the top of its list of more than a dozen countries believed to be spying on Canada, hoping to glean government, technological and corporate secrets, CSIS director Jim Judd said. “China is at the top of our list of counter-intelligence targets and accounts for close to 50 percent of our counter-intelligence program,” he said, according to CSIS spokeswoman Barbara Campion. The senate committee is studying whether Canada needs more robust foreign intelligence gathering capabilities or even a separate spy agency like the US CIA or Britain’s MI6. Judd’s comments come as Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay visits Beijing to try to improve relations, strained since the rise to power of Canada’s Conservatives in January 2006, over the jailing of a Canadian imam in China, stalled trade negotiations, and Canada’s failure to extradite Chinese fugitives. Beijing also showed its displeasure at the Canadian parliament’s decision to give honorary citizenship to Tibetan religious leader in exile, the Dalai Lama, in November. Wednesday, Ottawa asked to take part in World Trade Organization consultations on the application of intellectual property rights in China, after the United States lodged a pair of complaints against Beijing at the beginning of the month. Canadian exports to China in 2006 reached 7.7 billion Canadian dollars (6.9 billion US dollars) and imports were 34.5 billion Canadian dollars (31 billion US dollars). afp

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