Australia yesterday announced measures to wall off dozens of sensitive technologies from foreign interference, stepping up efforts to safeguard against “national security risks” from China and others.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled a list of 63 “critical technologies” to be promoted and protected at an online forum in Sydney — a step toward limiting what government, industry and universities can share with foreign counterparts.
The list includes 5G communications, quantum technologies, artificial intelligence, advanced magnets, 3D printing, drones and vaccines.
Photo: AP
The measures aim to “balance the economic opportunities of critical technologies with their national security risks,” Morrison told a forum hosted by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
Items on the list would not be automatically banned for export or proscribed, but might be subject to “additional risk management,” including measures to stop “unwanted tech transfers.”
Australia has become increasingly concerned about the transfer of sensitive technology to foreign military powers, particularly to China, under the guise of academic cooperation.
Canberra has also moved to limit the ability of Chinese state-linked firms to operate critical infrastructure in Australia.
A decision to effectively bar Huawei Technologies Co (華為) from running Australia’s 5G network was the catalyst for a major diplomatic rift between the two countries.
For almost two years, high-level diplomatic contacts have been frozen and Beijing has levied a raft of sanctions that some have called a “shadow trade war.”
Australia is in the process of auctioning 5G spectrum licenses.
Morrison yesterday also listed nine critical technologies that are to be the focus for investment, hoping the expertise would help “uphold our liberal democratic traditions” in what he described as an era of “strategic competition.”
“The simple fact is that nations at the leading edge of technology have greater economic, political and military power — and, in turn, greater capacity to influence the norms and values that will shape technological development in the years to come,” he said.
The list also includes nuclear technology — a marked departure for a country that has long been opposed to fission power and only has one research reactor.
The list includes a range of nuclear technologies linked to power generation, space travel, reprocessing and isotope production.
Many of the other listed technologies have military or dual-use applications, such as synthetic materials that bend light or radio waves, self-fixing materials designed for advanced body armor, laser communications or quantum cryptography.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique