Chinese Front Operations Exposed in Australia Part of a Global Problem

The Sydney Harbour Bridge, Opera House and Skyline is seen illuminated prior to the Earth Hour 2009 power switch off in Sydney, Australia on March 28, 2009. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images

Front operations of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) are coming to light in Australia, where a stream of local media reports are exposing the CCP’s influence over the country’s news outlets, universities, businesses, and politicians.

The Weekend Australian reported on June 10 that Australian tax dollars are helping to fund the CCP’s weapons programs, through cooperation between Australian universities and Chinese military-linked, state-owned enterprises.

“The Australian Research Council is funneling Australian taxpayer funds into research with applications to China’s advanced weapons capacity through its linkage program,” it states.

This included a $400,000, three-year grant for a research partnership between the University of Adelaide and the Beijing Institute of Aeronautical Materials, which is part of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China.

The Aviation Industry Corporation of China, the newspaper notes, is a state-owned enterprise and “the main supplier of military aircraft to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) air force, including the J-20 stealth fighter, the fifth-generation FC-31 stealth­ fighter, and attack drones.”

It notes the Beijing Institute’s president, Dai Sheng­long, “doubles as its Communist Party secretary.”

Australia's intelligence agencies believe Huawei is linked to the Third Department of the PLA, the military's cyberespionage arm.

— The Weekend Australian in a June 10 report