Recently, in August this year, the Alberta government loosened some of the restrictions it had introduced on Alberta-based universities—we call them polytechnics—and how they could interact with the Chinese government. However, it left certain restrictions in place, such as signing new agreements involving visiting researchers and post-doctoral fellows, as well as arrangements for research commercialization technology transfers and intellectual property. In those situations, the universities are prohibited from signing new agreements or continuing agreements that were there before.
Is that the type of guidance that should be given to universities all across Canada—to watch the types of relationships they're building long term with institutions based in mainland China—or should they favour relationships with Taiwanese universities?