150 Australia–China University Joint Ventures Trigger National Security Concerns

Chinese Navy missile frigate Yulin is seen docked at Changi Naval Base during the IMDEX Asia warships display in Singapore on May 4, 2023. Roslan Rahman/AFP via Getty Images

Australian universities, which have established joint ventures (JVs) with Chinese counterparts, have raised concerns after it was revealed some have concerning deep links to the defense sector, including submarine and cyberwarfare projects.

Several of Australia’s top tertiary institutions are involved in 150 joint ventures between universities in China and Australia, according to the latest estimates.

Chinese universities engaged in the JVs—including Shandong University, Ocean University of China (OUC), and Southeast University—all have close and even highly sensitive links to Chinese military research. These co-providers often set up colleges or joint degree programs, The Australian reported.

Chinese Expert Raising Awareness

Mark Harrison, a senior lecturer in Chinese studies at the University of Tasmania, is warning about the joint ventures binding Australian institutions into the CCP’s education system.

“The JVs erode institutional autonomy, as universities become constrained in their decisions over programs that are easy to get into but may be hard to get out of without broader consequences for a university,” he recently wrote in The Australian.

“These joint ventures integrate Australia’s and China’s university systems in specific subject areas asymmetrically on Beijing’s terms. On the Australian side, they present questions about education policy, law, and administration—and reconciling a liberal education system with one in which education is defined as serving goals of the party-state.”

Mr. Harrison said the issue has been given far less attention than Confucius Institutes, another approach Beijing uses to assert its influence in Western democracies.

“There are only 12 Confucius Institutes, but there are more than 150 education JVs between Australian and Chinese universities,” he said.

“These are teaching programs, or sometimes stand-alone colleges or institutes in China, run by Chinese universities with an Australian partner. ... The JVs are mostly in science and engineering, as well as business studies, with food science and agriculture, marine science, and electrical and electronic ­engineering common subjects.”

Adelaide University and OUC

Haide College—a JV between Adelaide University and OUC—offers a range of degrees, including biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.

OUC has strong defense and security links with Chinese authorities, according to the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a Canberra, Australia-based defense and strategic policy think tank.

“OUC has maintained cooperation with [China’s] Navy Submarine Academy since as early as 2010. The two parties signed a cooperation agreement in 2017 with plans to conduct joint research projects for technology innovation and to work together on military projects. In 2019, OUC and the Navy Submarine Academy established cooperation on national defence scientific research projects,” reads an ASPI article about the university.

People pass by a building at the University of Adelaide in Adelaide, Australia, on May 3, 2017. AAP Image/David Mariuz

On its Chinese website, Haide College stated that it serves the “national strategy” of China and has a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) committee that promotes its policies.

In late 2022, the U.S. attorney’s office charged four Chinese nationals with espionage, alleging that their actions involved using a college at OUC to “cover for their clandestine intelligence activities.”

“These defendants cloaked themselves and their motives in order to get access to our higher learning institutions and recruit others to betray this nation. All intended to give China a leg up,” Special Agent in Charge James Dennehy said. “The FBI would never let that happen.”

Monash and Southeast University

The Group of Eight—representing Australia’s most research-intensive universities—also has partnerships with Beijing.

Monash University partnered with Southeast University (SEU) in Suzhou, China, to set up a JV offering research including advanced materials and manufacturing and advanced computing.

ASPI classified Southeast University as “high risk” because of its “relatively high level of defence research.”

“SEU is a leading Chinese university that engages in high levels of defence research. ... The university has secret security credentials, enabling it to participate in secret defence projects. ... The university has also been linked to cyberespionage,” the think tank stated.

“SEU has also built relationships with state-owned defence conglomerates. In 2017, the university signed a strategic cooperation agreement with missile-manufacturer China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.”

The Monash University Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences is seen in Melbourne, Australia. Wikimedia Commons

Australian National University and Shandong University

Joint Science College—a JV between the Australian National University and Shandong University headquartered in China’s coastal city of Weihai—focuses on physics, chemistry, and other scientific disciplines.

“Shandong University (SDU) is designated very high risk for its high number of defence laboratories and links to China’s nuclear weapons program,” the ASPI university tracker stated.

The university hosts three Chinese defense laboratories, one of which has been accused of conducting cyberattacks for the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army.

“SDU collaborates with the Chinese Academy of Engineering Physics, China’s nuclear warheads development facility, on topics including the development of crystals that are used in the study of nuclear explosions and research on fusion ignition,” the ASPI stated.

Lena Karmel Lodge at the Australian National University is seen in Canberra, Australia, on Aug. 13, 2021. AAP Image/Lukas Coch

Tasmania and WA’s JV with Southwest University

Westa College—a JV of the University of Tasmania, the University of Western Australia, and Southwest University in Chongqing, China—offers degrees in areas including biotechnology and electronic information engineering.

Zhao Yufang, dean of Southwest University, is a delegate to the National People’s Congress, the highest organ of power in China.

In March, the college held a party day activity with the theme of “learning from Lei Feng, doing practical things, being vanguards,” according to its website. Lei Feng was a communist model soldier who has been used by the CCP since the 1960s as an icon of dedication to indoctrinate the public.