The spy agency Asio says it has disrupted a plot by China’s intelligence services to “infiltrate a prestigious Australian research institution” with officials forcing an academic to leave the country before any harm was done. The Asio chief, Mike Burgess, provided broad details of the alleged plot while also accusing China of engaging in “the most sustained, scaled and sophisticated theft of intellectual property and expertise in human history”. “It is unprecedented and unacceptable,” Burgess said during a press conference in California on Wednesday alongside counterparts from the US, the…
Tag: Australian politics
Australia politics live: no vote came from ‘grievance camp’, Labor MP says; trade minister to urge China to review wine tariffs
From 1h ago No vote came from ‘grievance camp’, Labor MP says Marion Scrymgour: With the failure of the referendum, we are stuck with a Constitution built on a deliberate plan for exclusion and discrimination by way of race, which still retains a race power rather than a mechanism for recognising the special relationship the commonwealth government must have with its First People as a result of the way this continent was colonised. That is something which we are all going to have to accept and do our best to…
Cheng Lei: Australia’s foreign minister reveals the promise she made to jailed journalist’s children
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has revealed she promised the children of the formerly jailed journalist Cheng Lei to “do everything I could to bring her home”. Speaking a day after Cheng returned to Melbourne after three years in detention in China accused of ill-defined security-related allegations, Wong said the Australian journalist was “in extraordinarily good spirits” and was “pretty tough”. “I think I was more emotional than she was,” Wong said on Thursday, as she described greeting Cheng at Melbourne airport the day before. “It was really moving…
Daniel Duggan: US extradition case could be delayed due to fight over AFP and Asio documents
Lawyers for an ex-US navy pilot accused of training Chinese airmen say delays in obtaining crucial material from the government mean an upcoming extradition hearing will have to be delayed. Daniel Edmund Duggan, 55, was arrested in October last year after the US government accused him of arms trafficking by providing military training to Chinese pilots in South Africa between 2010 and 2012. He is also accused of money laundering while a US citizen. The father of six denies all the charges. Appearing at Downing Centre local court on Wednesday,…
‘What if there was a war?’ Chinese Australians wear the scars after bitter years of hostile rhetoric
Yun Jiang doesn’t mince her words when reflecting on how the recent decline in Australia’s relationship with China has affected Chinese Australians. “It’s almost as if we’re already at war,” the scholar and former government policy adviser says. “During times of war, we are kind of forced to choose.” Australian government rhetoric on China may have cooled since Labor came to office, but Chinese Australian communities are still dealing with the consequences of “drums of war” fears stoked over the past few years. Some say the media’s negative portrayal of…
UK espionage saga a ‘wake-up call’ for Australian parliament, opposition says
An espionage scandal in the UK should serve as a “major wake-up call” for Australia, a senior opposition member has said. Australia’s shadow home affairs minister, James Paterson, called on both countries to “harden” their political systems to reduce the risk of alleged compromise, including wider use of vetting of staff members. British MPs complained that they should have been told sooner than an aide operating at the heart of parliament had been arrested on suspicion of allegedly spying for China and breaching the UK’s Official Secrets Act. The man,…
Australia news live: Dutton says opposition ‘won’t be departing’ from net zero, China welcomes PM’s confirmed visit
From 26m ago Paul Karp Dutton says opposition ‘won’t be departing’ from net zero In recent days some in the Nationals have agitated to abandon the commitment to net zero, through a motion to be debated at Nationals conference and comments from frontbencher Barnaby Joyce that the estimated cost of net zero was “utterly untenable”. The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has just rejected that push, telling Radio National the Coalition “won’t be departing” from net zero. He said: No [it doesn’t concern me], there’s strong support for net zero. It’s…
Australia’s big bet is that Asia still matters to the US. But does it really? Sam Roggeveen
Australia has made its big bet on the US based on the key assumption that Asia really matters to Washington. Australia is placing a lot of chips on the red, white and blue, so we had better be sure that this assumption holds up. Does it? Some who question American staying power in Asia argue that the US simply isn’t strong enough to maintain its leadership – it is too politically dysfunctional, racially divided and economically unequal. We shouldn’t dismiss such concerns, especially the increasingly realistic fear that the next…
Australia news live: Anthony Albanese to announce referendum date as poll puts yes ahead in South Australia
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Detained Australian writer fears he may die of kidney condition in China jail
Detained Australian writer Yang Hengjun fears he could die in a Chinese prison from a worsening medical condition he says is not being properly treated. He has told supporters he is in pain from a large cyst on his kidney. The Australian government is being urged to intervene and secure, through diplomatic means, his release to Australia on medical parole. “If something happens with my health and I die in here, people outside won’t know the truth. That is frustrating,” Yang said from detention. “If something happens to me, who…