Security News > 2006 > October > China's desire for inventor's gun just tip of iceberg
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/chinas-desire-for-inventors-gun-just-tip-of-iceberg/2006/10/01/1159641211829.html By Hamish McDonald Asia-Pacific Editor October 2, 2006 NEWLY revealed efforts by China's military to get the secrets of a Brisbane company's revolutionary new rapid-fire gun are the latest in what one intelligence expert calls a "hoover"-style espionage operation by Beijing. The Chinese sweep for technology is providing a heavy workload for traditional counter-espionage for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, despite its shift of priorities to counter-terrorism. Beijing orchestrates a broad range of business, academic and personal contacts, as well as intelligence gathering by officials posted to embassies and consulates from the Ministry of State Security and the People's Liberation Army 2nd Department. And the country sends an incessant stream of information-gathering "delegations". Mike O'Dwyer, the inventor of the Metal Storm gun that is capable of firing a million rounds a minute, said on Channel Nine's Sunday program he had been offered $US100 million ($134 million) to move to China. "What I was expected to do in Beijing was to divulge all the knowledge I had to enable prototypes to be built for the weapons system to be developed," Mr O'Dwyer said. As well as this direct approach, the program revealed another offer made by an executive named Min Qiang at a Beijing recruitment company, FESCO, which is known for its official links to an Australian-Chinese businessman, Jun Yang. "He said 'Mr Yang, we have a proposition for you'," Mr Yang told the TV program. "'The Chinese Liberation Army wants to buy Metal Storm. It's very advanced technology. When you return to Australia we want you to purchase it for us."' Metal Storm, the company developing the weapon, is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange. The novel gun has been cited in a United States defence report as a sensitive technology to be protected by the US and its close allies. The Chinese espionage effort seems to have been exposed because Mr Yang joined the Falun Gong meditation movement, banned in China, which is doing its best to undermine Beijing's image worldwide. Yesterday's report coincided with China's national day. Colonel Russell Smith, a former Australian defence attache in Beijing and now Australian manager for Jane's Information Group, said he was not surprised by the revelation, or what it said about Chinese intelligence collection methods. "Wherever there is technology, the Chinese will be there, to try to hoover up it up in whatever way, shape or form they possibly can," Colonel Smith said. He disputed a claim on the Sunday program that China's military build-up was taking the West unawares. "It is something which consumes a lot of organisations right across the Western intelligence world," he said. Nor did he accept Mr O'Dwyer's belief that Australian security agencies took the spying on Metal Storm too lightly. "It would be unknown to him, but I would be very confident our organisations and agencies are well across what's going on," Colonel Smith said. Australian agencies had protective measures in place, he said. _________________________________ Donate online for the Ron Santo Walk to Cure Diabetes! http://www.c4i.org/ethan.html