Australia’s National Science Agency Drops China Collaboration After Security Concerns

An iceberg is pictured in the western Antarctic peninsula, on March 04, 2016. Like seals and whales, penguins eat krill, an inch-long shrimp-like crustacean that forms the basis of the Southern Ocean food chain. But penguin-watchers say the krill are getting scarcer in the western Antarctic peninsula, under threat from climate change and fishing. / AFP / EITAN ABRAMOVICH Photo credit should read EITAN ABRAMOVICH/AFP/Getty Images

Australia’s national science body, the CSIRO, has announced it will no longer work with China on marine research following a warning from Australia’s intelligence bureau that the collaboration could help the Chinese navy track Australian submarines.

The CSIRO Centre for Southern Hemisphere Oceans Research (CSHOR)—based in Hobart, Tasmania—was told on June 11 that its oceans research collaboration with China’s top marine science institute, the Qingdao National Marine Laboratory, will not be extended once it finishes in June 2022, The Australian reported.