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Former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig — who was detained by China for more than 1,000 days between 2018 and 2021 — says Prime Minister Mark Carney’s tone and messaging during his trip to China were “worrisome.”

In a bid to reset relations with China and counter trade threats from the United States, Carney became the first Canadian prime minister to travel to the Asian country in eight years this week.

During the trip, Carney took meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and stated progress in Canada-China relations is “(setting) up well for the new world order,” comments which drew widespread reaction, including from Kovrig.

“Diplomacy is necessary, grinning is optional, and looking like a supplicant is undignified,” Kovrig said in an interview airing Sunday on CTV’s Question Period. “That’s not a good look. So, the optics could have been better.”

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Kovrig added he thought the prime minister’s statement about the “new world order” was a “very worrisome way to express things.”

He said Carney “standing and grinning” while shaking Xi’s hand made him uncomfortable, and that “intoning about a new world order,” surrounded by top Chinese officials, “really carries some very Orwellian overtones.”

“It’s a deeply unsettling message, and it’s a very dangerous game,” Kovrig told host Vassy Kapelos, adding it risks endorsing Chinese narratives that are “deeply problematic.”

During the English-language leaders’ debate ahead of last April’s federal election, Carney pointed to China as the biggest security threat facing Canada.

Speaking to reporters in Beijing on Friday, however, when asked whether he still believes that to be true, Carney answered that “the security landscape continues to change.”

“In a world that’s more dangerous and divided, we face many threats,” he said. “That’s the reality. And the job, my responsibilities as prime minister, the job of the government, is to manage those threats.”

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Kovrig has warned against lifting the tariffs on Chinese EVs in the past, calling it a “mistake,” and telling Kapelos last September that it could give China too much leverage in future negotiations and domestic policymaking.

Kovrig, who’s now a senior advisor with the International Crisis Group, said the deal sets a precedent in dealing with China that will have “huge implications for Canada’s industrial policy.”

“You need to free the hostages, and so there needed to be some way of releasing some of that pain. And that matters,” Kovrig said of the pressure from Canadian Prairie provinces for relief from China’s agriculture-sector tariffs. “Those tariffs were painful and politically targeted, but the relief is time-limited and reversible. Beijing kept the leverage.”

“What did Canada give up? Canada broke ranks with the U.S. on Chinese electric vehicles,” he added. “Even with quotas, the signal’s big: market access is negotiable under pressure. That teaches the Chinese Communist Party that pressure works, and it’s likely to test that again.”

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A consortium of international researchers has called for a new alliance of mid-sized nations to challenge the overwhelming dominance of the United States and China in artificial intelligence.

The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) released a policy report Sunday titled "A Blueprint for Multinational Advanced AI Development." The document, co-authored with scholars from the University of Oxford, Canada's Mila institute, and Germany's RWTH Aachen University, argues that countries like South Korea, the United Kingdom, and Canada must pool their resources to secure technological independence.

The report paints a stark picture of the current landscape, noting that approximately 90 percent of the world's AI computing capacity is concentrated in the United States and China. The authors warn that this imbalance effectively blocks other nations from developing "frontier" AI models on their own, forcing them into a state of technological dependency on a handful of superpowers and Big Tech firms.

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The blueprint suggests modeling this cooperation after CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. Instead of particle physics, the proposed body would focus on sharing the heavy burden of AI infrastructure. Member nations would pool computing resources, establish protocols for cross-border data training, and create a shared system for research talent to move freely between countries.

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The report notes that approximately 90% of global AI computing capacity is concentrated in the United States (75%) and China (15%), warning that technological dependence on specific nations or global big tech companies could intensify. It proposes that "AI bridge power nations" including Korea, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Singapore form a new cooperative bloc to lead norms for AI collaboration. These countries possess world-class AI research influence and technological capabilities but face practical constraints in independently building hyperscale AI and power infrastructure.

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A Twitter/X post on Russian state platform RT, twists Canadian PM Mark Carney’s remarks about supporting Danish/Greenland sovereignty within NATO into a false war declaration. Multiple independent records show Carney did not threaten war; he affirmed that Greenland’s future is for Denmark/Greenland to decide and underscored allied defense commitments—nothing more. Given RT’s track record and EU sanctions, this is a textbook Kremlin tactical narrative injection to create panic and divide the US and Canada.

RT has been identified by Canada and its allies as an important component of Kremlin intelligence operations.

THE CLAIM

RT’s X post reads: “CANADA WILL DECLARE WAR ON USA FOR GREENLAND — CARNEY.” The exact wording is mirrored by third-party captures discussing the RT post.

THE FACTS

Mark Carney did not declare war or threaten it. He stated the future of Greenland is for Greenland and Denmark and reaffirmed support for Danish/Greenland sovereignty, consistent with NATO commitments, not a call to war.

NARRATIVE CONTEXT & STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE

Match to playbook: Inflate allied differences, cast NATO as fracturing, and push Western publics toward cynicism (“allies on brink of war”). Strategic objective: Incite conflict between allies. Corrode NATO cohesion and distract from Russia’s aggression elsewhere by manufacturing an intra-alliance crisis.

Opinion piece by Brian McQuinn, Co-Director of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence, Data, and Conflict and Associate Professor, International Studies, University of Regina; and Marcus Kolga, Adjunct professor, University of Regina.

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The war in Ukraine and the attacks on NATO partners might seem distant, but Canada is on the front lines. As part of NATO’s enhanced Forward Presence in Latvia, Canada has more than 2,000 troops deployed under Operation Reassurance.

If Baltic leaders are right, and it’s only a matter time until there’s an open war with Russia, Canadians will be on the front lines from the beginning.

Canada’s NATO commitments also mean that an attack on any of these countries will be treated as an attack on Canada.

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Historically, Canada and Europe have relied on American military guarantees, but it seems highly unlikely U.S. President Donald Trump would come to the aid of Latvia and declare war on Putin. Canada and its European allies are likely on their own.

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“Estonia is prepared for different threats. We know that the pressure from Russia goes beyond the military. It also includes vandalism, sabotage, airspace violations, balloons threatening aviation, cyberattacks and ongoing information campaigns — not only against Estonia, but against all allies, no matter how near or distant, including Canada," says Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal.

"We also focus on building a strong economy and attracting investment, like the Canadian Neo Performance Materials plant in eastern Estonia. We protect our information space and work to make sure our society is resilient and ready to deal with any kind of crisis — whether it comes from aggressor states, from nature or from climate change. We are not afraid; we are prepared.”

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Baltic societies offer Canada a clear blueprint for countering Russian coercion, preparing for crisis and building resilience without surrendering democratic values.

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According to Russian officials, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew – previously accused by Moscow of having “split Orthodox Ukraine” – has now allegedly turned his “dark gaze” on the Baltic states. ​ In Lithuania, a group of Orthodox Christians severed their links to Moscow following the 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the church’s leadership's support for the war. They established a new community under the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople; Ukraine’s Orthodox community did the same in 2019. ​ On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a joint statement containing apocalyptic language about developments in Lithuania and other European countries.

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Russian intelligence claimed that the patriarch was not merely a religious leader but a metaphysical threat — an “incarnate devil” seeking to drive Russian Orthodoxy out of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. ​ The message was criticised on social media by Gintaras Sungaila, one of the first Orthodox priests in Lithuania to announce his break from the Moscow Patriarchate.

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