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The federal government should be worried that the top diplomat from one of its key Arctic allies got his facts so wrong, Byers said.

One of the most glaring of several mistakes, said Byers, is Pompeo’s assertion that China is trying to build infrastructure in the Canadian Far North.

China is “planning to build infrastructure from Canada, to the Northwest Territories, to Siberia,” Pompeo said. “This is part of a very familiar pattern. Beijing attempts to develop critical infrastructure using Chinese money, Chinese companies, and Chinese workers — in some cases, to establish a permanent Chinese security presence.”

China’s signature international infrastructure project, the multibillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative, aims to expand trade by building roads, ports and other facilities to connect Asia through Africa and the Middle East to Europe.

The U.S. opposes what it sees as an aggressive push by China to assert its influence by lending money to less developed countries and creating what is known as a “debt trap.” A Chinese state-owned company ended up in possession of a port in Sri Lanka when that country couldn’t pay off loans, for instance.

“I have not heard of any Chinese plans to build infrastructure in the Canadian Arctic,” said Byers. “There’s no factual basis, certainly not in the public domain, and that would also require the full involvement of the Canadian government. It’s just flat-out wrong.”

(Byers did note that northern Quebec has a Chinese-owned lithium mine.)

A senior government official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said Pompeo did not appear to refer to specific Chinese projects in Canada related to the Belt and Road Initiative and may have been speculating.

The official added: “There are no investments here, nor are there any contemplated.”

Berube, the spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Department, said Canada “welcomes continued discussions with China on Arctic issues,” which the two countries can have through existing two-way and multinational mechanisms.