as posted here
Reports that a Chinese networking equipment maker was employing technicians in Australia with direct links to the People's Liberation Army and was under investigation by Australian security agencies were flatly denied by the company Tuesday.
Huawei Technologies spokesperson Ross Gan said the firm has not been contacted by the Australian Security Intelligence Organization. Gan did say that Huawei officials met with the ASIO in June for a routine briefing that the firm provides to all levels of government as well as to the networking equipment industry and customers.
Huawei is China's biggest telecommunications equipment maker. An Australian newspaper, without citing any of its sources, said the ASIO made the claim that Huawei is hiring employees connected to the PLA.
The Chinese networking firm reportedly dismissed "several dozen" of its Australian-born workforce, replacing them with Chinese nationals.
These Chinese nationals have allegedly been spotted meeting officials at Chinese embassies and consulates in Canberra, Sydney and Melbourne, according to the report.
The news comes at a time when four Shanghai-based employees of the Australian iron giant Rio Tinto are awaiting trial on charges of stealing trade secrets and being involved in briberies.
The Chinese government arrested the Rio Tinto employees in July and accused them of selling information that Chinese authorities believe put its steel makers at a disadvantage in iron ore price talks with the world's second largest iron ore supplier.
Founded by a former China's PLA official, Huawei has become one of the world's largest telecom operators in recent years.
The company announced earlier that its contract value reached $15.7 billion in the first half of this year, an increase of 28 percent over the same period of last year.
But most of the company's overseas expansions, especially to developed countries, have been stymied by security concerns.
Last year, the company's $2.2 billion joint bid with Bain Capital for the computer-gear maker 3Com Corp was withdrawn amid concerns from the US government that China would gain access to 3Com's anti-hacking technology used by the US Department of Defense.
Huawei employs 120 workers in Australia, 100 in Melbourne and the rest in Sydney.
China Daily-Wire agencies
as posted here
public news and things I spy ..
Wednesday, 9 September 2009
ACT considers keeping ASIO waste
as posted here
The ACT Government is not ruling out allowing waste from the ASIO headquarters building site to be dumped in Canberra.
Developers are negotiating with the ACT Government after the Yass Valley Council rejected a proposal to dump tonnes of waste at the Murrumbateman landfill.
There are concerns the waste from the site on Constitution Avenue near the suburb of Campbell is contaminated with asbestos.
Acting Territory and Municipal Services Minister Katy Gallagher says the Government is considering the request.
"I think there's certainly more work to be done in this area and nothing would be agreed to which didn't meet very strict environmental protection standards," she said.
"Of course there's some issues that need to be worked through."
as posted here
The ACT Government is not ruling out allowing waste from the ASIO headquarters building site to be dumped in Canberra.
Developers are negotiating with the ACT Government after the Yass Valley Council rejected a proposal to dump tonnes of waste at the Murrumbateman landfill.
There are concerns the waste from the site on Constitution Avenue near the suburb of Campbell is contaminated with asbestos.
Acting Territory and Municipal Services Minister Katy Gallagher says the Government is considering the request.
"I think there's certainly more work to be done in this area and nothing would be agreed to which didn't meet very strict environmental protection standards," she said.
"Of course there's some issues that need to be worked through."
as posted here
[ISN] ASIO officers met whistleblowers in pancake parlour
as posted here
From: InfoSec News
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 02:19:30 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26029093-5001561,00.html
By Cameron Stewart
The Australian
September 05, 2009
A PANCAKE Parlour restaurant and a cafe in the Block Arcade in central
Melbourne are unlikely places to discuss claims of Chinese espionage.
But these were among the venues chosen for meetings between ASIO
officers and employees of the Australian arm of the Chinese telecom
giant Huawei.
ASIO officers have travelled to Melbourne and Sydney this year to meet
Huawei whistleblowers, after the domestic spy agency received
information alleging that some Huawei technicians and executives had
direct links with the Chinese People's Liberation Army and to the
Chinese government.
The allegations made by current and former Huawei employees to ASIO were
that the Chinese telecommunications company, which has operations across
the globe, was not the purely commercial enterprise it claimed to be.
Rather than being a privately owned company that exists only to make
profits on the sales of telecom equipment, Huawei's operations in
Australia were controlled by the Chinese government, the employees
claimed, and several other employees had close links with the PLA.
These employees told ASIO they believed the hi-tech Huawei was involved
in cyber espionage against Australian interests, but when grilled by
ASIO, were unable to produce firm evidence of espionage activities.
[...]
________________________________________
Please Donate to the Ron Santo Walk to
Cure Diabetes with Ethan's Crew!
http://www.c4i.org/ethan.html
Received on Tue Sep 08 2009 - 00:19:30 PDT
as posted here
From: InfoSec News
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2009 02:19:30 -0500 (CDT)
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,26029093-5001561,00.html
By Cameron Stewart
The Australian
September 05, 2009
A PANCAKE Parlour restaurant and a cafe in the Block Arcade in central
Melbourne are unlikely places to discuss claims of Chinese espionage.
But these were among the venues chosen for meetings between ASIO
officers and employees of the Australian arm of the Chinese telecom
giant Huawei.
ASIO officers have travelled to Melbourne and Sydney this year to meet
Huawei whistleblowers, after the domestic spy agency received
information alleging that some Huawei technicians and executives had
direct links with the Chinese People's Liberation Army and to the
Chinese government.
The allegations made by current and former Huawei employees to ASIO were
that the Chinese telecommunications company, which has operations across
the globe, was not the purely commercial enterprise it claimed to be.
Rather than being a privately owned company that exists only to make
profits on the sales of telecom equipment, Huawei's operations in
Australia were controlled by the Chinese government, the employees
claimed, and several other employees had close links with the PLA.
These employees told ASIO they believed the hi-tech Huawei was involved
in cyber espionage against Australian interests, but when grilled by
ASIO, were unable to produce firm evidence of espionage activities.
[...]
________________________________________
Please Donate to the Ron Santo Walk to
Cure Diabetes with Ethan's Crew!
http://www.c4i.org/ethan.html
Received on Tue Sep 08 2009 - 00:19:30 PDT
as posted here
Huawei slams 'baseless' ASIO reports
as posted here
Huawei has issued a furious denial of newspaper reports that claimed the Chinese networking vendor was being investigated by the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) for links to Chinese political interests.
In a strongly worded letter issued this morning, the company's local managing director Guo Fulin said the reports first published in The Weekend Australian over the weekend were "totally without foundation and based purely on unsubstantiated allegations".
"The articles falsely accuse Huawei of engaging in espionage activities and offer no proof to support this charge. The articles also say that Huawei is currently being investigated by ASIO. We are not aware of any investigation," the executive wrote.
Huawei had met with ASIO recently, Fulin admitted, but said that the meeting was instigated by the company itself as part of a briefing it provides to all relevant stakeholders. In addition, the executive wrote, the company wanted to make sure ASIO was fully aware of its activities after previous similar articles by The Australian.
In December last year, the newspaper reported that security agencies would "closely examine" any Huawei involvement in Optus' bid to build the National Broadband Network due to international concerns about the company's links with Chinese authorities.
"Contrary to your articles, your readers should know that Huawei is 100 per cent employee-owned and no governments or government agencies have any involvement or ownership in our operations," Fulin said, adding Huawei had a policy of employee localisation in Australia.
The executive said Huawei was disappointed by what he described as the newspaper's "continued focus on unproven allegations that do a disservice" to the group's Australian workforce of several hundred.
as posted here
Huawei has issued a furious denial of newspaper reports that claimed the Chinese networking vendor was being investigated by the Australian Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) for links to Chinese political interests.
In a strongly worded letter issued this morning, the company's local managing director Guo Fulin said the reports first published in The Weekend Australian over the weekend were "totally without foundation and based purely on unsubstantiated allegations".
"The articles falsely accuse Huawei of engaging in espionage activities and offer no proof to support this charge. The articles also say that Huawei is currently being investigated by ASIO. We are not aware of any investigation," the executive wrote.
Huawei had met with ASIO recently, Fulin admitted, but said that the meeting was instigated by the company itself as part of a briefing it provides to all relevant stakeholders. In addition, the executive wrote, the company wanted to make sure ASIO was fully aware of its activities after previous similar articles by The Australian.
In December last year, the newspaper reported that security agencies would "closely examine" any Huawei involvement in Optus' bid to build the National Broadband Network due to international concerns about the company's links with Chinese authorities.
"Contrary to your articles, your readers should know that Huawei is 100 per cent employee-owned and no governments or government agencies have any involvement or ownership in our operations," Fulin said, adding Huawei had a policy of employee localisation in Australia.
The executive said Huawei was disappointed by what he described as the newspaper's "continued focus on unproven allegations that do a disservice" to the group's Australian workforce of several hundred.
as posted here
Security shambles at ports revealed
as posted here
NICK MCKENZIE
September 9, 2009
CONVICTED criminals who pose a terrorist or organised-crime risk are free to work on Australia's ports due to gaping holes in the nation's maritime security, according to a report commissioned by the Federal Government.
The damning Office of Transport Security report reveals that the central plank of Australia's post-September 11 waterfront security scheme has failed to meet its core goal: to keep criminals convicted of terrorism-related offences away from the nation's maritime sites.
The report will embarrass the Rudd Government as it is the latest in a string of confidential briefings and inquiries sent to at least two cabinet ministers, Anthony Albanese and Brendan O'Connor, exposing the parlous state of national infrastructure and transport security.
The 75-page report examines the Maritime Security Identity Card, or MSIC, scheme, which was introduced in 2003 and requires maritime industry workers to undergo criminal background screening and an ASIO assessment in order to access wharves and offshore facilities.
But the OTS report reveals that the scheme is failing because it does not detect or act on "a range of offences and behaviours that are known to have linkages with terrorist activity and the unlawful interferences with maritime transport and offshore facilities".
The offences going undetected include those relating to possessing explosives, theft, significant weapons violations, racketeering, blackmail, corruption, bribery and "offences relating to the death of another human - be it by assassination or murder".
The report, obtained by The Age under FOI laws, was completed last August, eight months after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered his first national security statement and vowed to ramp up the fight against terrorism and organised crime.
A departmental source said the Government had known of the glaring problems with the MSIC scheme for more than a year, but had failed to act because of union opposition to any toughening of background screening - a key recommendation of the OTS report.
The report says the existing threats to Australia's maritime sector include terrorists using improvised explosive devices, small arms or larger weapons, as well as organised criminals trafficking in arms and drugs.
"Criminal elements already engaged in the above unlawful activities can be potentially recruited, co-opted or tricked into facilitating terrorist planning."
But it says a ''major gap'' exists in the security regime because ''a great many offences that are related to terrorist and related activity are not captured'' and criminality that does not result in a jail sentence is ignored. The report concludes that the maritime security card regime ''does not adequately reflect the stated policy objectives - particularly when one takes into account the potential use of trusted insiders and the threat of criminal infiltration by organised crime groups".
''The potential exists for some serious criminal convictions to be overlooked by assessors," it says.
The report reveals that the nation's wharves are further exposed because the existing security regime ignores the vast body of criminal intelligence held by the Australian Crime Commission, even though the ACC has said that such ''relevant intelligence is available''.
The OTS report, conducted by consulting firm GHD, also reveals that a serious criminal offence committed by a maritime worker after he has been issued with an MSIC card would not be detected by the scheme for several years. It also states that ''material is not cross-referenced and applicant files are archived after a short period of time''.
Details of the report were sent around late July to the Transport Minister, Mr Albanese, who was criticised earlier this week over claims he failed to act while an opposition MP in 2006, when a customs official leaked to him details about major holes in airport security.
The Age revealed in June that Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor was being briefed on a separate report by the Australian Crime Commission that found that organised crime syndicates had an entrenched presence at some major wharves and airports and were exploiting gaps in security.
The OTS' scathing assessment of maritime security reveals fresh details from the ACC's still-secret findings.
''According to the ACC, checking of a typical cohort of employees at any port would be expected to return a criminal intelligence trace at a rate of approximately 3 per cent of the sample group. The majority of these would be of minor importance but some would indicate multiple and ongoing behaviours and activities,'' the OTS report states.
While the report acknowledges the increasingly recognised nexus between organised crime and terrorism, it also reveals that ASIO is yet to issue a single adverse security assessment of a wharf worker.
''Although ASIO may provide a negative or qualified security assessment, which would likely lead to a refusal to issue, it is understood that this has never occurred in respect of an MSIC applicant,'' it says.
The report calls for an overhaul of the maritime security scheme, including a carefully considered broadening of the number and types of offences for which a worker can be denied a security pass and consideration of how criminal intelligence can be used. It flags that such changes are likely to stir fierce debate from unions and employers. ''Certainly the maritime sector will have strong views upon the matter.''
Figures provided recently by the Department of Transport reveal that, since October, about 20 per cent of the 12,552 maritime workers who have applied for a security card had a criminal record, but only 41 of those were denied a card.
A still-secret review of the Aviation Security Identity Card system earlier this year also recommended sweeping changes. The review found that workers convicted of serious criminal offences had been granted passes to work in security-sensitive areas.
as posted here
NICK MCKENZIE
September 9, 2009
CONVICTED criminals who pose a terrorist or organised-crime risk are free to work on Australia's ports due to gaping holes in the nation's maritime security, according to a report commissioned by the Federal Government.
The damning Office of Transport Security report reveals that the central plank of Australia's post-September 11 waterfront security scheme has failed to meet its core goal: to keep criminals convicted of terrorism-related offences away from the nation's maritime sites.
The report will embarrass the Rudd Government as it is the latest in a string of confidential briefings and inquiries sent to at least two cabinet ministers, Anthony Albanese and Brendan O'Connor, exposing the parlous state of national infrastructure and transport security.
The 75-page report examines the Maritime Security Identity Card, or MSIC, scheme, which was introduced in 2003 and requires maritime industry workers to undergo criminal background screening and an ASIO assessment in order to access wharves and offshore facilities.
But the OTS report reveals that the scheme is failing because it does not detect or act on "a range of offences and behaviours that are known to have linkages with terrorist activity and the unlawful interferences with maritime transport and offshore facilities".
The offences going undetected include those relating to possessing explosives, theft, significant weapons violations, racketeering, blackmail, corruption, bribery and "offences relating to the death of another human - be it by assassination or murder".
The report, obtained by The Age under FOI laws, was completed last August, eight months after Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered his first national security statement and vowed to ramp up the fight against terrorism and organised crime.
A departmental source said the Government had known of the glaring problems with the MSIC scheme for more than a year, but had failed to act because of union opposition to any toughening of background screening - a key recommendation of the OTS report.
The report says the existing threats to Australia's maritime sector include terrorists using improvised explosive devices, small arms or larger weapons, as well as organised criminals trafficking in arms and drugs.
"Criminal elements already engaged in the above unlawful activities can be potentially recruited, co-opted or tricked into facilitating terrorist planning."
But it says a ''major gap'' exists in the security regime because ''a great many offences that are related to terrorist and related activity are not captured'' and criminality that does not result in a jail sentence is ignored. The report concludes that the maritime security card regime ''does not adequately reflect the stated policy objectives - particularly when one takes into account the potential use of trusted insiders and the threat of criminal infiltration by organised crime groups".
''The potential exists for some serious criminal convictions to be overlooked by assessors," it says.
The report reveals that the nation's wharves are further exposed because the existing security regime ignores the vast body of criminal intelligence held by the Australian Crime Commission, even though the ACC has said that such ''relevant intelligence is available''.
The OTS report, conducted by consulting firm GHD, also reveals that a serious criminal offence committed by a maritime worker after he has been issued with an MSIC card would not be detected by the scheme for several years. It also states that ''material is not cross-referenced and applicant files are archived after a short period of time''.
Details of the report were sent around late July to the Transport Minister, Mr Albanese, who was criticised earlier this week over claims he failed to act while an opposition MP in 2006, when a customs official leaked to him details about major holes in airport security.
The Age revealed in June that Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor was being briefed on a separate report by the Australian Crime Commission that found that organised crime syndicates had an entrenched presence at some major wharves and airports and were exploiting gaps in security.
The OTS' scathing assessment of maritime security reveals fresh details from the ACC's still-secret findings.
''According to the ACC, checking of a typical cohort of employees at any port would be expected to return a criminal intelligence trace at a rate of approximately 3 per cent of the sample group. The majority of these would be of minor importance but some would indicate multiple and ongoing behaviours and activities,'' the OTS report states.
While the report acknowledges the increasingly recognised nexus between organised crime and terrorism, it also reveals that ASIO is yet to issue a single adverse security assessment of a wharf worker.
''Although ASIO may provide a negative or qualified security assessment, which would likely lead to a refusal to issue, it is understood that this has never occurred in respect of an MSIC applicant,'' it says.
The report calls for an overhaul of the maritime security scheme, including a carefully considered broadening of the number and types of offences for which a worker can be denied a security pass and consideration of how criminal intelligence can be used. It flags that such changes are likely to stir fierce debate from unions and employers. ''Certainly the maritime sector will have strong views upon the matter.''
Figures provided recently by the Department of Transport reveal that, since October, about 20 per cent of the 12,552 maritime workers who have applied for a security card had a criminal record, but only 41 of those were denied a card.
A still-secret review of the Aviation Security Identity Card system earlier this year also recommended sweeping changes. The review found that workers convicted of serious criminal offences had been granted passes to work in security-sensitive areas.
as posted here
Chinese telco denies spy claim
as posted here
Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies has denied reports that the Australian security forces are investigating it on spying charges.
Australian spooks are apparently worried that Huawei technicians in Australia have direct links to the People's Liberation Army. According to the The Australian newspaper claims have been made by Huawei employees in Sydney and Melbourne who approached the Aussie spy agency Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Huawei has been in trouble over similar claims in the US and UK, although it strongly denies that it has any connections with the Chinese military.
The company's $2.2 billion joint bid with Bain Capital for the computer-gear maker 3Com was withdrawn amid US government concern that China would gain access to 3Com's anti-hacking technology used by the US Defense Department. Huawei officials said it met with the ASIO in June to provide an introduction to the Chinese company.
But the meeting was routine, Ross Gan, a spokesman at Huawei, China's biggest telecommunications-equipment maker, said in the email. The meeting was a routine briefing Huawei provides to governments, the industry and customers, Gan said.
as posted here
Chinese telecommunications company Huawei Technologies has denied reports that the Australian security forces are investigating it on spying charges.
Australian spooks are apparently worried that Huawei technicians in Australia have direct links to the People's Liberation Army. According to the The Australian newspaper claims have been made by Huawei employees in Sydney and Melbourne who approached the Aussie spy agency Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. Huawei has been in trouble over similar claims in the US and UK, although it strongly denies that it has any connections with the Chinese military.
The company's $2.2 billion joint bid with Bain Capital for the computer-gear maker 3Com was withdrawn amid US government concern that China would gain access to 3Com's anti-hacking technology used by the US Defense Department. Huawei officials said it met with the ASIO in June to provide an introduction to the Chinese company.
But the meeting was routine, Ross Gan, a spokesman at Huawei, China's biggest telecommunications-equipment maker, said in the email. The meeting was a routine briefing Huawei provides to governments, the industry and customers, Gan said.
as posted here
Australia accuses Huawei of espionage: report
as posted here
Relations between China and Australia have not been lacking bumps and jolts recently.
On Saturday, The Australian newspaper reported that the country's national security ser-vice is investigating claims that the Australian branch of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei employs technicians in Australia with direct links to the People's Liberation Army and the Chinese government.
Current and former Huawei employees, who are all Australian nationals working for its branch in Sydney and Melbourne, approached the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) with their concerns, the paper said.
Their claims include that the Chinese government controls Huawei's operations and that the privately owned company is involved in cyber espionage against Australian interests, ac-cording to the paper.
A spokesman from Huawei on Friday described the claims as "inaccurate and groundless" and was quoted by the newspaper as saying that "Huawei is100 percent employee-owned and no government or government agencies have any involvement or ownership in our operations."
"The investigations instantly strike me as a new round of retaliation against China after the Rio Tinto spy case," Professor Ren Xiao, from the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the Global Times.
"It's obvious that Australia is engaging in negative interaction with China," Ren said. "If the Australian government fails to take action, bilateral relations are likely to go downhill."
David Irvine, who was referred to by the paper earlier this year as a "career spy," now heads the ASIO. Irvine was the Australian ambassador to China from 2000 to 2003.
Huawei, which employs more than 100 people in Sydney and about 20 in Melbourne, was founded by Ren Zhengfei, a former People's Liberation Army officer who served as a deputy of China's National People's Congress between 1982 and 1987.
So far the Australian government and intelligence department haven't officially commented on this issue. Apart from The Australian, no other Australian media have reported the case.
Source: Global Time
as posted here
Relations between China and Australia have not been lacking bumps and jolts recently.
On Saturday, The Australian newspaper reported that the country's national security ser-vice is investigating claims that the Australian branch of Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei employs technicians in Australia with direct links to the People's Liberation Army and the Chinese government.
Current and former Huawei employees, who are all Australian nationals working for its branch in Sydney and Melbourne, approached the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) with their concerns, the paper said.
Their claims include that the Chinese government controls Huawei's operations and that the privately owned company is involved in cyber espionage against Australian interests, ac-cording to the paper.
A spokesman from Huawei on Friday described the claims as "inaccurate and groundless" and was quoted by the newspaper as saying that "Huawei is100 percent employee-owned and no government or government agencies have any involvement or ownership in our operations."
"The investigations instantly strike me as a new round of retaliation against China after the Rio Tinto spy case," Professor Ren Xiao, from the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, told the Global Times.
"It's obvious that Australia is engaging in negative interaction with China," Ren said. "If the Australian government fails to take action, bilateral relations are likely to go downhill."
David Irvine, who was referred to by the paper earlier this year as a "career spy," now heads the ASIO. Irvine was the Australian ambassador to China from 2000 to 2003.
Huawei, which employs more than 100 people in Sydney and about 20 in Melbourne, was founded by Ren Zhengfei, a former People's Liberation Army officer who served as a deputy of China's National People's Congress between 1982 and 1987.
So far the Australian government and intelligence department haven't officially commented on this issue. Apart from The Australian, no other Australian media have reported the case.
Source: Global Time
as posted here
Murrumbateman snubs ASIO - or does it?
as posted here
In a victory for common sense, Yass Valley Council has rejected a proposal to dump 35,000 tonnes of asbestos waste at the Murrumbateman landfill. Well - I think it has.
Yass Valley Council director of operations Simon Cassidy says the contractor did not want to wait months for an environmental impact study to be completed.
Presumably the Council were the ones doing the environmental impact study, in which case it sounds like the contractor has snubbed the Council, rather than the latter giving the bird to ASIO, which the story implies.
Either way, no doubt the squattocracy of the Canberra commuter belt will be raising a cool-climate Riesling to the outcome.
as posted here
In a victory for common sense, Yass Valley Council has rejected a proposal to dump 35,000 tonnes of asbestos waste at the Murrumbateman landfill. Well - I think it has.
Yass Valley Council director of operations Simon Cassidy says the contractor did not want to wait months for an environmental impact study to be completed.
Presumably the Council were the ones doing the environmental impact study, in which case it sounds like the contractor has snubbed the Council, rather than the latter giving the bird to ASIO, which the story implies.
Either way, no doubt the squattocracy of the Canberra commuter belt will be raising a cool-climate Riesling to the outcome.
as posted here
ASIO officers met whistleblowers in pancake parlour
as posted here
A PANCAKE Parlour restaurant and a cafe in the Block Arcade in central Melbourne are unlikely places to discuss claims of Chinese espionage.
But these were among the venues chosen for meetings between ASIO officers and employees of the Australian arm of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
ASIO officers have travelled to Melbourne and Sydney this year to meet Huawei whistleblowers, after the domestic spy agency received information alleging that some Huawei technicians and executives had direct links with the Chinese People's Liberation Army and to the Chinese government.
The allegations made by current and former Huawei employees to ASIO were that the Chinese telecommunications company, which has operations across the globe, was not the purely commercial enterprise it claimed to be.
Rather than being a privately owned company that exists only to make profits on the sales of telecom equipment, Huawei's operations in Australia were controlled by the Chinese government, the employees claimed, and several other employees had close links with the PLA.
These employees told ASIO they believed the hi-tech Huawei was involved in cyber espionage against Australian interests, but when grilled by ASIO, were unable to produce firm evidence of espionage activities.
Hauwei strongly denies any suggestions that it is a front for Beijing, describing as "ludicrous and inaccurate" claims that it has links to the Chinese military or the communist government in Beijing.
The company employs more than 100 people in its Sydney office and about 20 in Melbourne and is said to have an annual turnover in Australia of more than $150 million, selling a wide range of telecommunications equipment to other telcos. ASIO's challenge has been to test the veracity of the claims made by these whistleblowers.
Are they telling the truth? What evidence do they have to back their claims? Are they just being paranoid or are their claims motivated by commercial or other factors?
The Weekend Australian does not know what conclusions ASIO has come to in relation to this; however, the spy agency has taken an active and ongoing interest in the information provided to it.
These included claims that there was a clear distinction inside Huawei between its Australian employees and the Chinese nationals the company had brought in from China.
The Chinese nationals were reserved, did not mix with the Australians, and would "drop everything" when asked to attend meetings with Chinese diplomatic officials.
"They would report back through their embassy what was happening," one former Huawei employee told The Weekend Australian. "It seemed that these people had an official function beyond simply doing business."
Another told of how apprehensive Huawei executives were when hosting a visit in March this year of the propaganda chief of the Chinese Communist Party, Li Changchun. "They called him "Number 5", one employee recalls, referring to the fact that Mr Li was ranked five in China's nine-person politburo standing committee.
Another employee noted that Huawei was unusually security conscious, employing one senior official whose sole job was to monitor the company's emails and its external communications.
ASIO's covert probe of the company has been conducted at the same time as Huawei has tried to allay suspicions within the Australian government by providing a "routine briefing" to ASIO officers in June to give them "a brief introduction to Huawei".
as posted here
A PANCAKE Parlour restaurant and a cafe in the Block Arcade in central Melbourne are unlikely places to discuss claims of Chinese espionage.
But these were among the venues chosen for meetings between ASIO officers and employees of the Australian arm of the Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
ASIO officers have travelled to Melbourne and Sydney this year to meet Huawei whistleblowers, after the domestic spy agency received information alleging that some Huawei technicians and executives had direct links with the Chinese People's Liberation Army and to the Chinese government.
The allegations made by current and former Huawei employees to ASIO were that the Chinese telecommunications company, which has operations across the globe, was not the purely commercial enterprise it claimed to be.
Rather than being a privately owned company that exists only to make profits on the sales of telecom equipment, Huawei's operations in Australia were controlled by the Chinese government, the employees claimed, and several other employees had close links with the PLA.
These employees told ASIO they believed the hi-tech Huawei was involved in cyber espionage against Australian interests, but when grilled by ASIO, were unable to produce firm evidence of espionage activities.
Hauwei strongly denies any suggestions that it is a front for Beijing, describing as "ludicrous and inaccurate" claims that it has links to the Chinese military or the communist government in Beijing.
The company employs more than 100 people in its Sydney office and about 20 in Melbourne and is said to have an annual turnover in Australia of more than $150 million, selling a wide range of telecommunications equipment to other telcos. ASIO's challenge has been to test the veracity of the claims made by these whistleblowers.
Are they telling the truth? What evidence do they have to back their claims? Are they just being paranoid or are their claims motivated by commercial or other factors?
The Weekend Australian does not know what conclusions ASIO has come to in relation to this; however, the spy agency has taken an active and ongoing interest in the information provided to it.
These included claims that there was a clear distinction inside Huawei between its Australian employees and the Chinese nationals the company had brought in from China.
The Chinese nationals were reserved, did not mix with the Australians, and would "drop everything" when asked to attend meetings with Chinese diplomatic officials.
"They would report back through their embassy what was happening," one former Huawei employee told The Weekend Australian. "It seemed that these people had an official function beyond simply doing business."
Another told of how apprehensive Huawei executives were when hosting a visit in March this year of the propaganda chief of the Chinese Communist Party, Li Changchun. "They called him "Number 5", one employee recalls, referring to the fact that Mr Li was ranked five in China's nine-person politburo standing committee.
Another employee noted that Huawei was unusually security conscious, employing one senior official whose sole job was to monitor the company's emails and its external communications.
ASIO's covert probe of the company has been conducted at the same time as Huawei has tried to allay suspicions within the Australian government by providing a "routine briefing" to ASIO officers in June to give them "a brief introduction to Huawei".
as posted here
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