OTTAWA (LifeSiteNews) – A leading Canadian computer scientist said agents from China offered him a six-figure bribe if he agreed to become a stooge for the Communist Chinese Party (CCP).
McGill University professor Benjamin Fung said during testimony at the House of Commons science committee that the CCP tactic was an obvious “recruitment strategy” designed to target Canadian academics.
As per Blacklock’s Reporter, Fung recently said that he asked the agents, “What do you want me to do?’” to which they replied, “You just need to reply to our emails.”
Fung serves as the chair for Canadian research at McGill’s School of Information Studies. He noted that his research interests include artificial intelligence as well as “cybersecurity and malware analysis.”
Due to his background in these areas, CCP agents were intrigued to try and use him for their gain.
“The Communist Party of China and Chinese state-affiliated companies expressed strong interest in my research in past years,” he told the Commons committee.
Fung said that in 2018 a Chinese company tried to recruit him as a “consultant” for its “artificial intelligence team.”
“That company offers three times, yes, three times my salary to work for them as a consultant” during his time as a professor at McGill, Fung related.
Fung did not mention the name of the company.
Conservative MP Corey Tochor asked Fung if he saw agents or “employees of Huawei on campus.”
Fung replied that a few years ago such individuals were much more “active” on campus.
Huawei Technologies was banned from Canada’s 5G networks in May 2022 over national security concerns.
‘Feed, trap and kill’ strategy used by CCP
Fung noted that the CCP recruitment strategy in going after academics is called “feed, trap and kill.”
“They first use lucrative offers to attract their targets,” he said.
“Once a professor relies on their funding, they will start making unreasonable requests, including transferring intellectual property rights, getting sensitive data or asking the professor to say something that may not be true,” he added.
Fung said it is a “typical strategy the Chinese government often uses to recruit researchers.”
He also said that after he turned down an offer he was contacted about every “one of two years” and offered other kinds of “collaboration.”
Eventually, the agents went after his graduate students. “Fortunately, none of my students have joined the company,” he said.
Fung noted to the science committee that for those who get “trapped” in the “kill” part, it means agents of the CCP begin to say “something that is untrue” to ruin the “reputations of the professor.”
Fung is not the only Canadian academic sounding an alarm over CCP meddling in the nation’s academia.
In June, Canadian professor James Hinton, an associate professor at Western University, testified before a House of Commons committee that Canada must do more to mandate the full disclosure of how Chinese companies interact and embed themselves in many of the nation’s universities, saying basic partnerships they have with the schools are just the “tip of the iceberg.”
Hinton told the House’s Science Committee that Canada needs to “stop these terrible deals (with China).”
Hinton listed a litany of Canadian universities that have had dealings with the Chinese government-backed telecommunications giant Huawei. He noted how Huawei has partnered with over 20 of Canada’s top research institutions, including McGill.
The potential interference by foreign agents has many Canadians concerned, especially considering Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s past praise for China’s “basic dictatorship” and his labeling of the dictatorial nation his favorite country other than his own.
Canadians are also concerned about possible meddling in Canada’s last two elections by CCP agents.
On September 7, the federal government announced it would launch a public inquiry led by Quebec judge Marie-Josée Hogue into potential foreign election interference.
This inquiry comes after former Canadian Governor General David Johnston, who was appointed as “special rapporteur” to lead the investigation into Chinese election interference as a “friend” of the Trudeau family, resigned in disgrace earlier this year.