Australia investigates foreign interference at universities as fears of Chinese influence grow
- A new task force will comprise of university staff and government officials, and will look at issues such as cyberattacks and national security
- The announcement comes amid heightened scrutiny of China’s influence at Australian universities following a spate of cyberattacks and demonstrations
Education Minister Dan Tehan said the task force, which will be equally comprised of university staff and government officials, would tackle the “intersection of national security, research, collaboration and a university’s autonomy”.
“Universities also understand the risk to their operations and to the national interest from cyberattacks and foreign interference and we are working constructively to address it,” Tehan said.
The initiative will include separate working groups tasked with cybersecurity, fostering a “positive security culture”, protecting intellectual property, and ensuring transparency in collaborations between universities and foreign entities.
“The task force has the potential to be a valuable channel to consult and coordinate efforts by the government and universities,” said Alex Joske, a researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra.
“I hope it will lead to genuine action by universities, and encourage effective solutions that involve proactive measures from both government and universities.”
The report found that seven “too big to fail” universities had much higher numbers of Chinese students than universities in countries such as the United States and the UK, relying on their fees for 13-23 per cent of revenues.
John Blaxland, a professor at the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at Australian National University in Canberra, said the launch of the task force reflected a “mood shift” in Australia around the issue of foreign interference.
“Nobody wants to turn off the Chinese students but at the same time, one of the things that’s so attractive about our universities is that we’re open liberal institutions of learning,” Blaxland said. “And what we’ve seen, particularly in the last couple of weeks in Australia in response to what’s happening in Hong Kong, has been a little bit chilling.”
In recent weeks, nationalist Chinese have staged at times violent counter-demonstrations against pro-democracy Hongkongers and their supporters in Australian cities including Melbourne and Brisbane.
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On Monday, the University of Queensland in Brisbane said it had launched an investigation after the ASPI’s Joske published evidence that a firm founded by one of its professors had supplied technology used in the mass surveillance of Uygurs in westernmost Xinjiang. The professor, Heng Tao Shen, disputed the claims as “totally irresponsible” and “wrong”.
Last month, the University of Technology Sydney said it would review a A$10 million partnership with China Electronics Technology Group, a supplier of surveillance technology in Xinjiang, and Curtin University in Perth announced an investigation after an academic helped develop artificial intelligence technology used to pinpoint Chinese ethnic minorities.
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In June, ANU announced that hackers had stolen sensitive information belonging to staff and students, including bank account numbers and passport details. Unnamed intelligence officials, quoted in local media, said the hacking was likely the work of China, which has repeatedly denied carrying out cyberattacks overseas.
Blaxland said Beijing would not be happy about the government’s latest move but it was in its interests to “play this with a straight bat”, instead of reacting aggressively.
“China’s approach has generated pushback,” he said. “Its illiberal assertiveness has rubbed people up the wrong way.”
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang on Wednesday said reports of interference were “purely illusory and have an ulterior motive”.
Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Centre at the East China Normal University in Shanghai, described the launch of the task force as a “gesture of paranoia based on distortion of fact”.
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