About China Compass
Free daily intelligence on the Canada-China relationship. A Know What Matters project.
What is China Compass?
China Compass is a free, daily intelligence briefing on the Canada-China relationship. Every morning, it collects signals from government sources, news outlets, think tanks, financial markets, and parliamentary records — then classifies, scores, and publishes them as a bilingual briefing.
The goal is straightforward: give every Canadian — not just those with access to expensive consultancies or government briefings — the information they need to understand one of the country's most consequential bilateral relationships.
A Know What Matters Project
China Compass is a project of Know What Matters, a not-for-profit organization founded on a simple belief: access to quality information should not be a privilege reserved for governments, corporations, and the wealthy.
Know What Matters exists to democratize information and empower informed citizens worldwide. We build tools that take the kind of analysis traditionally locked behind paywalls, security clearances, or expensive retainers — and make it freely available to anyone who cares enough to look.
China Compass is one expression of that mission. The Canada-China relationship touches trade policy, national security, technology supply chains, academic freedom, and the lives of millions of Canadians with ties to both countries. The public deserves better than scattered headlines and partisan talking points. They deserve structured, daily, contextualized intelligence — and that is what this project provides.
Who This is For
- Citizens who want to understand what is actually happening in the Canada-China relationship, beyond the news cycle.
- Journalists and researchers who need a daily signal feed with source links and severity context.
- Business professionals who need to track trade data, market movements, regulatory signals, and supply chain risks.
- Policymakers and their staff who want a non-partisan daily briefing to supplement their existing intelligence.
- Chinese-speaking Canadians who want to follow these developments in their own language.
How It Works
China Compass runs on a fully automated pipeline. No editorial hand picks which stories appear or how they are ranked. The process runs every morning:
- Collection — automated fetchers pull from over a dozen open sources: government press releases, parliamentary records, news RSS feeds, Chinese state media, trade statistics, and financial data.
- Classification — each signal is categorized by domain (diplomatic, trade, military, technology, political, economic, social, legal) and assigned a severity level based on source reliability, content analysis, and bilateral relevance.
- Tension Index — a composite score from 0 (calm) to 10 (crisis) is calculated across six dimensions, giving a daily snapshot of the overall relationship temperature.
- Publication — the briefing is assembled in both English and Chinese and published to this site. A newsletter edition is sent to subscribers.
Data Sources
Signals are drawn daily from open sources including:
- Government: Global Affairs Canada, parliamentary Hansard, committee transcripts
- Chinese state media: Xinhua News Agency and official government channels
- News: Canadian, international, and Asia-focused outlets including think tank publications
- Trade: Statistics Canada bilateral trade data
- Financial: Chinese and Hong Kong market indices, currency pairs
- Parliament: Bill tracking via LEGISinfo, Hansard keyword analysis
Tension Index
The Canada-China Tension Index tracks six dimensions of the bilateral relationship:
| Dimension | What it tracks |
|---|---|
| Diplomatic | Embassy actions, ministerial statements, consular events |
| Trade | Tariffs, export controls, trade volume shifts, commercial disputes |
| Military | Defence posture, PLA activity, Indo-Pacific security |
| Political | Legislation, foreign interference, parliamentary activity |
| Technology | Entity lists, research restrictions, data security |
| Social | Diaspora issues, academic partnerships, public sentiment |
The index is directionally useful — it shows whether tensions are rising, falling, or holding steady, and highlights which dimensions are driving the change. It is not a predictive model.
Principles
- Free and open: China Compass is free to use and will remain so. Intelligence should be a public good.
- Non-partisan: We do not advocate for any political position on Canada-China relations. We present signals and let readers draw their own conclusions.
- Source transparency: Every signal links to its original source. Readers can always verify what we report.
- Accessible: Geopolitics should be understandable to non-specialists. We avoid jargon, provide context, and explain why signals matter.
- Bilingual: English and Chinese versions receive equal attention. Chinese-language sources are analyzed in the original language.
Limitations
We believe in stating our constraints openly:
- China Compass relies entirely on open-source information. We have no access to classified intelligence.
- Chinese government transparency is limited. Some assessments involve informed inference from available data.
- The Tension Index simplifies complex dynamics into a single score. It is a useful directional indicator, not a definitive measure.
- Automated classification has edge cases. Some signals may be miscategorized.
- Market data is delayed and should not be used as the basis for investment decisions.
Contact
For questions, corrections, or media inquiries: info@chinacompass.ca
We welcome feedback from subject-matter experts, China scholars, and anyone engaged in Canada-China relations.
China Compass is a project of Know What Matters.