Staff Reports
Canada quietly reopened a formal military channel with China — and Ottawa didn’t bother to tell Canadians first. Beijing’s defence ministry posted a short readout saying the two sides held the fifth “Defence Coordination Dialogue” in Canada, the first such session since 2018. The terse line about “strengthen[ing] practical exchanges and cooperation” made headlines abroad before Canada’s government offered any public account. That’s not diplomacy; it’s a communications failure wrapped in a red flag.
What actually happened
China’s Ministry of National Defense announced the meeting and described it as a “candid and in‑depth exchange” where both sides “expressed willingness to strengthen practical exchanges and cooperation between the two militaries.” Official Canadian records show this channel existed in 2013, 2014, 2016 and April 2018, then went dormant after relations soured. The recent session is the first since then. As of the initial reporting, Ottawa had not posted a matching readout with participants, agenda, or outcomes.
Why this matters for national security
Military-to-military ties aren’t small talk. Canada is part of the Five Eyes intelligence alliance and shares sensitive systems with the United States. Resuming a defence dialogue with the People’s Liberation Army — while Canadian security agencies keep warning that China is a major threat — demands clear guardrails. Add the fact that senior U.S. and allied officers were in Victoria for Indo‑Pacific talks at the same time, and the optics become worse: Canada was hosting allies while privately opening another channel with Beijing.
Questions Ottawa needs to answer
Simple things first: who attended? What was on the agenda? Were any concrete agreements, working groups, or technology exchanges discussed? Were Canada’s security agencies briefed, and what limits were set to prevent intelligence or sensitive defence tech from being exposed? Canadians deserve answers — not the foreign press cycle doing the government’s job for it.
Political context and a closing thought
Prime Minister Mark Carney has talked about a “strategic partnership” with China this year, and Ottawa has moved to open trade ties while security officials keep issuing warnings. That split between political outreach and security reality is exactly why transparency matters. Reopening a defence channel is not inherently wrong, but doing it quietly while allies and citizens are left in the dark is reckless. The government should publish a full Canadian readout, explain guardrails and oversight, and let parliament and partners verify that national security came first — not political vanity or headline chasing from Beijing.
