The Chinese middle kingdom has no place in Australia.
Australia’s First World economy increasingly relies upon high-speed internet connectivity to function. Entrusting the ICT infrastructure to anyone outside Australia would only be foolish. To even think of entrusting Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN) planned 5G technology rollout and core to known enemy spies and saboteurs would be outright treasonable.
President Xi has form in cyber spying upon Australia and bad imperialist attitudes abroad such as in the South China Sea. It is another imperialist empire rising, like Japan of the 1940s. Dictator Xi has muscled his own autocracy for life, so creating the Xi Dynasty. His global ambitions of Chinese imperialism is no secret. China’s soft power control and influence across South East Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and the South Pacific is deliberate and substantial – economically, financially, and politically.
The Chinese communist state is in every sense Australia’s sovereign enemy.
Xi can quickly order Chinese telecommunications equipment maker Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, owned by Chinese Communist Party, to pull the plug anytime to suit Beijing’s Global Strategy and Growing World Presence. Huawei was once a copycat company mimicking technology and intellectual property of the First World. Then Beijing pumped billions into it to become its soft power arm of Xi’s foreign communications imperialism, now the world’s third largest smart phone manufacturer. Huawei is pronounced ‘wah-way’, and translates as “China Acts!”
Beijing is the enemy of Australia and the free world. It is imperialist, aggressive, bullying and has an inferiority complex with the sophisticated First World. It thieves First World intellectual property, has had wide-ranging cyber-espionage operations for decades and its intelligence laws force Chinese state-owned and controlled companies like Huawei to spy and undermine Australia’s data communications networks.
China has demonstrated a long-standing intent to conduct cyber-espionage. China has a proven and demonstrated intent, and their laws provide them with the capability to compel Huawei. This credible threat cannot be placed within the centre of our critical 5G network. Huawei has been pressured by Beijing to incorporate “backdoors” into its ICT equipment to enable Chinese government access for espionage and/or sabotage. Phone calls or messages can be intercepted and passed on in a way that blends in with normal network traffic to be difficult to detect. A mechanism to sabotage a network might not be found until it is triggered, by which time it will be too late to contain or crisis manage.
China knows this and has had lots of practice initiating cyber attacks on the First World government departments, militaries and enterprises.
According to a visiting fellow in the International Cyber Policy Centre at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Tom Uren, who is in Canberra on secondment from the Department of Defence, China is behind data breaches in United States, United Kingdom and Australian government departments, including into the Bureau of Meteorology, CSIRO, and the Australian Parliament email system.
China has engaged in the cyber-enabled theft of intellectual property, trade secrets, and commercial-in-confidence material from Western companies such as BHP, Rio Tinto, Fortescue Metals, Yahoo, Google and many more.
In 2016, Chinese state-owned semiconductor company Allwinner was discovered to have copied Linux software to create a built-in backdoor software component used on millions of low-cost Android tablets, PCs, set-top boxes, and other electronic devices worldwide.
The US Trade Representative’s Section 301 report from March this year details the very close cooperation between the Third Department of China’s People’s Liberation Army (3PLA is a military hacking unit, also known as Unit 61398) and Chinese enterprises. The 3PLA was not only stealing commercial information on behalf of Chinese companies, it was also building secret databases to hold their corporate intelligence.
In May 2018, The Pentagon banned the sale of Huawei and ZTE phones on military bases fearing the devices are being used to remotely spy on American soldiers. Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre has told UK telecommunications companies not to use ZTE equipment because its assessment is the “national security risks… cannot be mitigated”. Australia’s Home Affairs Department has also indicated it is considering imposing sanctions on ZTE, after these bans.
In Texas, ZTE bribed officials with Liberia Telecommunications Corporation (LTC) $US12.8 million between 2005 and 2007 designed to unseat a US company which had won the right to upgrade the West African country’s telecommunications networks. One official, Alfred D. Bargor, a deputy managing director of LTC, said he received one payment of “$30,000 in cash in a ‘brown paper bag’ … at a hotel in Liberia. Anothre official, Amara M. Kromah, managing director of LTC, also testified of being offered the 5 per cent commission and said “he received at least two bribe payments in cash, also in “brown paper bags.”
It’s Chinese corrupt business as usual. ZTE has been linked to corruption in 18 countries over a 17 year period, including in the Philippines, Myanmar, Nigeria, Liberia, Zambia, Kenya and Benin.
US intelligence agencies have urged the American Congress to pass legislation banning the use of products or services from Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE (Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment), because their smartphones and supporting services poses a national security risk. They have been caught out as platforms for surveillance, stealing data and funneling information back to the Chinese government.
The British Government regrets Huawei now controlling the nation’s ICT instead of British Telecom, despite it being cheaper. The Indians are wary, and they know cheap.
In late 2016, smartphones manufactured by both companies were found to have code embedded in their software that sends data to a Chinese server, without the users knowledge or permission, every 72 hours. This includes full text message contents, contact information, and telephone logs.
Coupled with the intent to conduct cyber-espionage, China’s intelligence law provides the capability to compel Huawei to assist with the state’s efforts. Article 7 of China’s Intelligence Law obliges organisations and citizens to support, assist and cooperate with intelligence work.
It is not hard to see how this law could be used to Australia’s detriment. The equipment that will comprise the 5G network is not just a passive piece of infrastructure. It has total visibility and control of all the connections within the network – it sees who calls who, when, from where, and controls what route data is sent down. There are a multitude of ways this equipment could be subverted.
Huawei could be asked to incorporate “backdoors” into their equipment to enable a remote (Chinese) user to bypass the telephone’s security and use the device for covert surveillance for the Chinese government and future sabotage.
As much as yuan funded Huawei chairman John Lord reckons the Chinese telco is not a security threat, Chinese intelligence will ask Huawei to provide engineering assistance and training to examine their software and hardware. Inside information about weaknesses present in hardware and software will enable Chinese intelligence to develop the capability to subvert Huawei’s equipment.
Huawei uses deployed engineers to install and configure their equipment when building and installing a network. So at the “mild” end of the spectrum, even if corporate Huawei isn’t compelled to assist, there are still many opportunities for Chinese intelligence agencies to ask or compel their citizens to assist in undermining our 5G network’s security – access codes, network configuration – to enable espionage or sabotage at a strategically vulnerable time. Like when Chinese military eventually blockade the South China Sea to Western shipping.
Huawei chairman John Lord is a traitor who would sell his own mother
Huawei’s millionaire boss John Lord in Australia doesn’t fool anyone with his breeding heart spin at the National Press Club last week.
Lord has used the National Press Club to claim:
“Huawei won’t pose a national security threat to Australia if it gets control of Australia’s NBN 5G contract.”
He wouldn’t even know. As a former career Navy officer he’d know his way around a ship’s bridge, but have bugger all clue about its electrical engineering and communication technologies, let alone what 5G is.
Navy’s Rear Admiral John Robert Lord now works for the Chinese. Nice. Has he already handed over Navy strategic secrets from Naval Communication Station Harold E. Holt, Symonston and Australian Defence Satellite Communications Ground Station at Kojarena all over to Beijing?
He bleats that not having over Australia’s strategic national communications network to Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei (now his employer) would have a “devastatingly high” impact on Australian local businesses and consumers.
I think Australians could probably live with that, you traitor.
His plea coincided with the Australian Government’s foreign interference laws looking set to pass Parliament on Wednesday night with Labor backing.
Huawei is run by the Communist party, gets cheap loans from the Bank of China,
“We are proud that after every kind of inspection, audit, review, nothing sinister has been found yet. No ‘back door’, no planted vulnerability, no ‘magical kill switch, yet.” he said. But we do bribe Australian politicians with free travel to China whenever they want. Our preferred partner is Air China.”
Australia’s Cabinet’s national security committee is set to veto Huawei’s involvement in the 5G network in September or October on the advice from ASIO, who are concerned about the company’s ties to China’s communist regime and potential to provide a gateway for cyber espionage against Australian interests.
This stance is wise and wholly consistent with the Australian Governent in 2012 blocking Huawei from originally tendering for the nation’s NBN because of the same genuine cyber security concerns.
Johnny boy, you well know that Chinese intelligence law places obligations upon Chinese companies to support, cooperate and collaborate on national security work, and compelling them to report any “vulnerabilities” with their network equipment, potentially allowing them to be exploited by Chinese spies. It’s Chinese business as usual.
Giving Huawei’ the bird is a no brainer. 5G technology has fully Big Brother remote surveillance and digital control capacity. Just watch this video from America.
Huawei already bribes the corrupted Australian Government
Huawei has been exposed bribing Australian Government cabinet ministers with free travel to China as part of Beijing’s soft power influence in Australian politics.
Huawei has become the biggest corporate sponsor of overseas travel for Australian politicians.
The research from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) found Huawei paid for 12 trips by Australian federal politicians to the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen, including business class flights, local travel, accommodation and meals, between 2010 and this year, based on politicians’ disclosures.
Politicians who took those trips include Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Trade Minister Steve Ciobo and former Trade Minister Andrew Robb, former speaker of the House Harry Jenkins and eight other Labour and Liberal politicians. Huawei accounted for 12 out of 55 corporate-sponsored trips by federal politicians.
“Steven you might think your favourite Beijing restaurant is Diaoyutai State Guest Restaurant, but you wanna try Kyoto Kaden Minokichi Kaiseki-Ryori in the Pangu Hotel – 7 star mate and remember Xi always shouts us!
Iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group (FMG.AX) was the second-largest corporate sponsor, paying for five trips, according to the research, while the biggest non corporate sponsor was the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council which paid for 44 trips.
The report comes as several Canberra based politicians have called for Huawei to be banned from participating in a roll-out of Australia’s 5G next-generation communications network, amid fears the company is effectively controlled by the Chinese government.
The Labor Party is pretty much on Beijing’s payroll. They’ve all been to China as Beijings expense. Gough Whitlam was, as is Sam Dastyari, Bob Hawke, Paul Keating, Bob Carr, Bill Shorten, Luke Foley, Chinese Penny Wong , Tanya PlebsRsick. In 2015 Labor frontbencher Tony Burke accepted two all expenses paid trips to China to visit childcare centres built by a Chinese company run by businessmen and former political donors Ian Tang and Anthony Chan.
Over the past 8 years Liberal politicians received 37 free trips to China funded by Beijing yuan, and Labor 25 free trips. They claim the trips as ‘study tours’. Sure they are; mutual backscratching one’s business class with Air China, with all the MSG-laden wontons and fortune cookies you can munch on.
It all exactly why the Australian Government has drafted its National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill 2017, to send Chinese bribers and corrupted politicians a message.
It’s dubbed the Shanghai Shanghai Sam Bill.
