It shows what seems to be an eagerness to take a more aggressive posture toward China, even if the public hasn’t fully considered the fallout that could befall Canada
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OTTAWA — More than half of Canadians view China as the single-biggest security threat facing Canada, with a majority believing that a global war of attrition involving the communist state is already well underway, according to a new poll.
In a new survey by Maru Public Opinion, 52 per cent of respondents viewed China as the highest security threat facing Canada, followed by Russia (42 per cent) North Korea (39 per cent) and Iran (33 per cent).
Meanwhile, 55 per cent of respondents said a global war is already happening in the form of “death by a thousand cuts,” in which some countries use “ongoing activities to destabilize, disrupt and undermine” the sovereignty and political institutions of their adversaries.
The results come amid soured relations between Canada and China, as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has sought to navigate prolonged trade wars and China’s detainment of two high-profile Canadians, Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig. Those pressures have in turn sharpened public attention on some of the perceived threats posed by China, including security risks should Chinese telecom giant Huawei Technologies be allowed to build Canada’s next-generation mobile networks.
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John Wright, executive vice-president of Maru Public Opinion, said the results could point to a hardening view among the Canadian public toward China as tension between the two countries remains high.
“The public, without the benefit of defence strategy and policy to review, have come to a conclusion themselves,” he said. “And this is based on what they’ve seen, read, heard, or personally experienced. So no matter what governments do, no matter what diplomatic envoys convey, the public has reached a full decision that China is a significant risk to Canada’s security.”
Wright said respondents to the survey were likely informed by the general “accumulation of attacks” carried out by China and other countries in recent years, particularly on the cyber security front. The Chinese government under the rule of Xi Jinping has taken on a bellicose tone in its plans to expand its global economic and political sway, leading to a prolonged power struggle between the U.S. and China involving trade threats and cyber attacks.
“What this poll says is that we are not going to end up with a WWII, or a Korean War, or one big Clash of the Titans. What this says is that there are different levels of attack, that can be constant, that can be ongoing, can be penetrating, and can be devastating to national security,” he said.
The results also show what appears to be a growing eagerness to take a more aggressive posture toward China, even if the public hasn’t fully considered the economic or political fallout that could befall Canada should it harden its message toward the country. Dependency on China in Canada’s private sector, particularly in its resources sector, make negotiations with the economic powerhouse particularly trying, observers say.
“I think this shows the public’s appetite for action, whatever that is,” Wright said.
Conservative opposition leader Erin O’Toole has said he would take a tougher stance on China, including the use of sanctions on some Chinese officials, but has proposed little else that would appear to alter the course of China-Canada relations.
?quality=90&strip=all&w=576 2x" />Trudeau has been criticized for his timid tone toward Xi, in particularly after refusing to define China’s treatment of its Uyghur population as genocide. The prime minster had earlier supported the claims of a report that categorized Canada’s treatment of First Nations people as genocide, saying he acknowledged the country had committed such atrocities in the past.
Also in the survey, 84 per cent of respondents believe that the growth of artificial intelligence and digital technology has “multiplied threats to cyber security.” The majority of respondents (78 per cent) said the potential exists over the next five years for Canada’s national security to be destabilized by a foreign threat.
