Australian universities have been warned their research collaborations with Chinese government bodies are helping the Communist regime set up a surveillance state and strengthen its military.
An explosive Four Corners investigation lifted the lid on the dubious relationships between a number of Beijing-backed entities and Australia’s top tertiary institutions, sparking human rights and national security concerns.
The program revealed a University of Queensland (UQ) professor who received $2.6million in taxpayer-funded grants used the money to set up a tech company in China which monitored members of the Uyghur minority group.
China analyst Alex Joske from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute warned our institutions are being infiltrated by China-owned or backed entities, and singled out UQ for its ‘concerning activity’.
China analyst Alex Joske says he was one of 200,000 people told his personal data may have been stolen
A University of Queensland professor who received $2.6million in taxpayer-funded grants set up an AI company in China which was used to monitor the members of the Uyghur minority group in the restive province of Xinjiang (stock image)
‘[The university] engages in particularly high levels of collaboration, some of which has raised serious human rights concerns,’ Mr Joske told Four Corners.
Mr Joske also warned the Australian National University in Canberra, the country’s top ranked tertiary institution, has more than 30 joint projects with Chinese defence universities.
He said the university, which receives defence funding for its artificial intelligence programs, trained a Chinese PhD student working on drone swarms.
‘When he [the PhD student] went back to China, he was quickly promoted in the Chinese military’s drone swarm program,’ Mr Joske said.
‘It’s clearly not in Australia’s interest to be recklessly training scientists who will go on to develop technologies that could be used against our military and against our country.’
Security experts are worried relationships between Beijing-backed entities and Australia’s tertiary institutions will have grave national security implications.
Among those entities is Chinese Government-owned data-mining company GTCOM, which signed a memorandum of understanding with the University of New South Wales to test its translation technology.
China analyst Samantha Hoffman (pictured) warned that Chinese data companies have gained a foothold in Australia
It was signed in 2017 following a International Federation of Translators summit in Brisbane, where GTCOM was a sponsor.
GTCOM also claimed to have reached verbal agreements with multiple other Australian universities regarding potential future partnerships.
‘They used this particular event, which is loosely linked to GTCOM’s business model as a way to gain a foothold in Australia,’ China analyst Samantha Hoffman said.
‘Essentially what they’re doing is they’re collecting bulk data globally, and then turning that into information that supports multiple different products.
‘According to their own claims, the data they’re collecting supports state security, and so immediately that raises red flags,’ she said.
A spokesman for UNSW denied GTCOM had any influence on any of UNSW’s programs’.
Professor John Fitzgerald, who chaired DFAT’s Australia-China Council, is another security expert concerned that research collaborations could place Australia at risk.
Leading security experts are worried relationships between Beijing-backed entities and Australia’s tertiary institutions will raise national security concerns (pictured is a Chinese police officer wearing smart glasses with a facial recognition system)
‘Australia’s science and technology priorities are being set by the Chinese Government because we enter into collaborations that have really been designed to support China’s goals, not ours,’ he said.
‘Many universities are very happy to proceed with whatever it is … because of the money and prestige involved.’
Education Minister Dan Tehan recently launched a university foreign interference task force, which he says is at unprecedented levels and it should be a wake-up call to Australia.
‘It’s a wake-up call to our university sector, and it’s a wake-up call to our business sector, a wake-up call to our government,’ he said.
‘We’ve got to make sure that our universities understand this threat, understand that they very much could be subject to foreign governments wanting to interfere with the work that they’ve done.’
But Chinese academic Professor Chen Hong denied China posed a threat.
‘We’ve noticed actually the ASIO and other intelligence units in Australia making allegations direct or indirect, against China,’ he told Four Corners.
‘We think actually these allegations are unfounded and without substantial evidence. In Australia, I think there are anti-China forces that are at play.’