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About 62 per cent of British Columbians believe the federal government is allowing too much direct investment in Canada’s high-tech sector by China, the highest level of concern in the country. By comparison, only five per cent are wary of investment from Europe.

Seven in ten Canadians believe that Asia will be driving global innovation in 10 years, but British Columbians aren’t inclined to throw open the doors to foreign investment. Just 13 per cent of West Coasters think relaxing restrictions on foreign investment is a good idea, according to the survey of 1,506 Canadian adults.

People understand that innovation and investment capital will come from China, Japan and India in the medium to long term, said Reeves.

“There is a concurrent sense within the Canadian public that there is inherently something more risky about accepting investment from Asia,” he said.

Chinese involvement in the telecommunications sector is a particular concern to Canadians, one that is shared by many other countries.

Last month, security officials from 30 countries met in Prague to create guidelines on the installation of 5G wireless networks because of concerns that equipment supplied by 5G powerhouse Huawei could be used for Chinese state espionage.

About half of Canadians doubt that the benefits of increased Asian investment in the tech sector would outweigh the risks.

Modelling based on the poll found that people were more likely to oppose projects involving China than other countries such as the United States or Japan and that projects involving telecommunications were more likely to raise red flags with respondents than sectors such as animation, life sciences or clean tech. The predicted probability of a project being opposed was 64 per cent for China, but just 28 per cent for Japan and 32 per cent for the United States.