“New analysis has revealed more than 6000 joint projects with People’s Liberation Army-linked institutions in the past six years alone. Ben Packham reveals that researchers from at least 80 Australian organisations have co-written papers on technology with military applications with counterparts at China’s National University of Defence Technology and more than 50 other high-risk institutions. The scandal was exposed in a report by AI-led intelligence company Strider Technologies. It emerges at a time the Chinese Communist Party, under Xi Jinping, does not bother concealing its hostile territorial ambitions towards Taiwan and building military infrastructure across vast swaths of the South China Sea it claims in defiance of international law. The Australian has learned details of three projects in which Australian National University, Melbourne University and University of Queensland researchers collaborated with Chinese partners developing drone target-tracking, anti-jamming technologies and new electronic warfare capabilities…”
“The alarming facts emerge as Education Minister Jason Clare has pulled the plug on 13 Australian Research Council-funded projects involving drone, cyber security and alternative energy collaborations over concerns they could be weaponised by the nation’s enemies, Natasha Bita reported on Monday. The minister acted on the advice of ASIO and the Home Affairs and Defence departments.”
“ARC data shows the organisation has funded at least 1500 joint projects with China, Russia, Iran and North Korea. As well as wasting taxpayers’ money, such work shows unconscionable disregard for national security by universities, which have ignored warnings and possibly defied the Foreign Relations Act, enacted by the Morrison government in 2020. The act, used to tear up Victoria’s Belt and Road deal with China, allows the federal government to veto deals with foreign countries struck by universities and state and local governments if the foreign minister believes the agreements are not in the national interest. The act was passed following revelations in The Australian by Sharri Markson in 2020 about the Thousand Talents plan, under which China was recruiting overseas academics, including in Australia…”