Canada worried by Chinese industrial spying

OTTAWA (Reuters) – The Canadian government is very worried
by the extent of Chinese industrial espionage inside Canada and
will raise its concerns with Beijing, Foreign Minister Peter
MacKay said in an interview broadcast on Sunday.

MacKay said it was particularly important to protect such
Canadian companies as Research in Motion, maker of the portable
e-mail BlackBerry device.

“We’re very concerned about economic espionage and it would
appear based on evidence and reporting that there is a fair bit
of activity,” he told CTV.

“It’s something we want to signal we’re prepared to address
and to continue to raise with the Chinese at the appropriate
time. We’re very much a country that needs to protect its
technology,” he said.

Research In Motion said last week it expected to launch its
wireless e-mail service in China by mid-year. Canadian media
reports say state-controlled China Unicom this month introduced
its own version, nicknamed the Redberry.

MacKay is a member of the new Conservative government,
which defeated the Liberals in a January 23 election. When in
opposition, he accused the Liberals of doing little to prevent
China from stealing Canadian industrial secrets.

Last June, amid a furor over allegations by a Chinese
defector who said Beijing had more than 1,000 spies in Canada,
the Liberals said they would tighten investment laws to give
Ottawa the right to block the foreign takeover of any Canadian
company for national security reasons.