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“It is every university and institution’s responsibility to safeguard its information,” states the document, a copy of which was obtained by the National Post. “The Chinese government (poses) a particular threat to U.S. academia for a variety of reasons.”

In Canada, where 143,000 Chinese students are enrolled at colleges and universities, there’s little evidence of the same level of vigilance, or willingness to name China as a prime villain. The RCMP says it has produced no such document and has no country-specific enforcement programs, while universities report little in the way of warnings from security agencies.

The country’s spy agency does acknowledge an economic espionage problem, without mentioning any one country.

Photo by GREG BAKER/AFP/Getty Images

Unidentified foreign powers are using “a range of traditional and non-traditional intelligence collection tradecraft” to try to acquire Canadian technology and expertise, which could result in lost jobs and competitiveness, said Tahera Mufti, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service.

“CSIS routinely engages with a variety of stakeholders, including in the private sector and universities, to advise them of potential threats,” she added.

Mufti pointed to a five-paragraph section on economic espionage in the service’s recent annual report, and a speech by director David Vigneault last year, warning business leaders about the threat in generic terms.

U.S. authorities, on the other hand, have made clear they consider improper siphoning of secrets and other advanced knowledge from research facilities by China specifically to be a major problem. FBI director Christopher Wray controversially pointed the finger last year at students and professors of Chinese background, suggesting a “whole of society” response to the threat is needed.