Canadian military monitored Chinese surveillance in the Arctic

• China monitoring attempts in the Arctic discovered by the Canadian military.
• Canada has prompted concerns about China’s actions in the far north.
• China has also recently been accused of meddling in Canadian elections.

The Canadian military claims to have discovered evidence of China monitoring attempts in the Arctic.

The discovery, first reported by The Globe and Mail in Canada, has prompted concerns about China’s actions in the far north.

That comes after a suspected Chinese spy balloon flew over the US and Canadian territory before being shot down by US forces.

China has also recently been accused of meddling in Canadian elections.

Last November, monitoring buoys were located and recovered as part of Operation Limpid, a Canadian military mission tasked with identifying risks to the country’s security by surveilling the air, land, and marine domains.

A spokesperson for Canada’s Department of National Defence, Daniel Le Bouthillier, said in a statement that the military “is fully aware of recent efforts by China to conduct surveillance operations in Canadian airspace and maritime approaches”.

Dual-purpose technologies

Mr. Le Bouthillier went on to say that China conducts this via “dual-purpose technologies,” or devices that conduct surveillance for both research and military purposes.

He stated that the military had not attempted to surveil Canadian land since 2022, although he did not clarify.

China has always been interested in the Arctic. It has sent high-level officials to the region 33 times in the last two decades and is a member of the majority of key Arctic institutions.

It has also increased the size of its icebreaker fleet and dispatched naval vessels to the north, frequently for research excursions.

When ice sheets melt owing to climate change, China expects to gain access to developing resources and a shorter trading route to Europe through the region.

Experts claim China’s research interests in the region have more than doubled as attempts to monitor military installations in the Arctic have increased.

These activities are linked to a bigger push by numerous Arctic nations, including the United States, Canada, Finland, Russia, Norway, and Sweden, to unleash the region’s untapped resources.

“This is a part of the world that has not been mapped and understood to the same degree of detail as other latitudes,” said Roberto Mazzolin, a senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation and a former high-ranking official in the Canadian Armed Forces.

Russia’s and China’s interest

Mr. Mazzolin stated that Canada has long seen the Arctic as a safe zone with little threat potential. But, Russia’s and, more lately, China’s interest in the region has changed that.

“[Canada is compelled to] consider how we would position our own security, military defense, or economic development operations to protect Canadian and American interests,” he said.

Melanie Joly, Canada’s foreign minister, told CNN on Wednesday that she sees China as an increasingly disruptive power.

Ms Joly went on to say that Canada is collaborating closely with the US to safeguard North American airspace and Canada’s Arctic sovereignty.

The discovery of the Chinese buoys by the Canadian military follows revelations by Canadian intelligence that Beijing attempted to influence Canada’s last federal election in 2021.

The Canadian Security Intelligence Agency detailed China’s efforts to re-elect Justin Trudeau’s Liberals to a minority government and to defeat Conservative candidates viewed as anti-China in papers originally obtained by the Globe and Mail.

According to the Globe, it did so through cash donations to selected politicians, the distribution of misinformation, and the use of consulates and paid students to assist particular Liberal candidates.

Canadian parliamentarians are in the midst of probing allegations that China interfered in Canada’s 2019 federal election. On Tuesday, they expanded their scope to include the 2021 election as well.

Extraordinarily serious issue

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau termed the suspected Chinese election meddling an “extraordinarily serious issue,” and he backed a deeper investigation into the accusations.

He noted that while the interfering efforts appear to have been ineffective thus far, it is a source of concern that foreign countries are attempting to meddle with Canada’s democratic processes.

“Foreign actors are trying to undermine people’s confidence in democracy itself,” Mr. Trudeau said.

Chinese officials in Canada have refuted these allegations, claiming that they do not meddle in Canadian elections or internal affairs.

China’s suspected surveillance attempts in North America dominated headlines earlier this month after a Chinese balloon was seen flying above North America.

Both the US and Canada said that the balloon was spying on sensitive military assets. China, however, has denied it was used for surveillance, instead saying it was a civilian weather balloon that had blown off course.

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