The University of Wollongong has collaborated with a Chinese university accused of carrying out cyberattacks on behalf of the PLA (People's Liberation Army).
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In a statement, UOW said it was "concerned by recent allegations regarding historical collaborations with individual academics or institutions allegedly connected to the Chinese military establishment".
It comes after a report from the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's cyber policy centre found China's top universities were playing an increasingly important role in the country's military advancement.
The report cites unnamed officials in claiming an office in Wuhan University was in fact a bureau of the PLA's signals intelligence agency.
It adds the same Wuhan University lab collaborated with and sent a visiting scholar to the University of Wollongong.
The report states a professor believed to be the lab's liaison with the PLA co-authored research with a UOW cryptographer.
One of the lab's associate professors also visited UOW in 2010 to participate in an Australian Research Council project.
"Some of the research collaborations referred to by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and in subsequent media reporting, pre-date the introduction of the Defence Trade Controls Act 2012, are no longer active, or relate to researchers who have since concluded any contact with UOW," a UOW spokesperson said.
"The university takes all necessary steps to obtain the best available information when undertaking due diligence and ensuring legal and policy compliance. This diligence is applied to PhD students, international exchanges, visiting scholars or professors, formal collaborations or other collaborative research activities."
The APRI report found Australian institutions were not adequately prepared to prevent research partnerships from endangering security or enabling human rights abuses.
The research examined the backgrounds of 160 Chinese entities, including universities, defence companies and research bodies.
It found 60 universities were involved in defence innovation, nine entities had activities supervised by state-owned defence conglomerates and 150 were authorised to do classified research.
The universities have been included in a new "China Defence Universities Tracker" database developed by the think tank, based on analysis of the institutions' military and intelligence backgrounds.
The resource is intended to help Australian decision makers do due diligence on potential research partners
A UOW spokesman said "Australian Government security agencies have the responsibility, authority and capability to conduct the required background checks prior to any student or academic being granted a visa.
"UOW continues to work closely with the government when determining the suitability of partners so as to ensure its international research collaborations yield benefits to Australia...."