Sun Sets On Sino-Canadian Tech Giant

Canada benefits from its close business ties to China, and lawmakers in the Great North have gotten used to viewing the country as a major source of investment as well as a market for Canadian goods. A Chinese immigrant named Sun Yian, who made a fortune using Canadian talent to develop everything from semiconductors to cutting-edge facial recognition technology, seemed to personify all that was positive about that relationship. Yian’s company grew to more than 1,500 employees in China and North America, and Canadian officials pointed to it as a model for exploiting the Chinese market to create domestic prosperity. Then Sun stopped paying his Canadian workers and fled to China. Now all that’s left are lawsuits from angry investors and Canadian employees who question if their work is being used for purposes of domestic surveillance by the Chinese government. The New York Times quotes a Canadian professor of global politics and international law, who says that Canadian officials in general have been blinded by China’s growth, and are extremely naive about its approach to acquiring high tech from other countries.