Chinese national charged with foreign interference by AFP in Canberra as ASIO boss warns ‘we are watching'
According to the AFP, the Chinese national was covertly collecting information about the Canberra branch of the Buddhist association Guan Yin Citta.
While Buddhists are widely recognised in China, there is evidence of significant persecution and restrictions, particularly against Tibetan Buddhists.
AFP Assistant Commissioner for Counterterrorism and Special Investigations Stephen Nutt said the woman was arrested on Saturday and faces a maximum of 15 years imprisonment.
'Foreign interference is a serious crime that undermines democracy and social cohesion,' Assistant Commissioner Nutt said.
The AFP Assistant Commissioner said Australia was 'not immune' to espionage and did not expect this arrest to prevent further attempts to target diaspora communities living in Australia.
Assistant Commissioner Nutt said the 'best defence' was an increase in community awareness and reporting of suspicious activity.
'The AFP and our partners are working closely with diaspora communities and to help protect them from this criminality,' he said.
'At a time of permanent regional contest, offenders will attempt to spy on individuals, groups and institutions in Australia.'
Assistant Commissioner Nutt said the AFP was not dealing with the Chinese embassy as part of its investigation and flagged investigators were planning for more arrests.
The AFP second in command said the 'menacing' aspect of foreign interference was that it was 'unclear' how the information gathered by operatives would be used.
The arrest was made just two days after ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess delivered a chilling address concerning "unprecedented" foreign espionage which had cost Australia at least $12.5 billion in one year.
Mr Burgess said the kind of foreign interference alleged in this case was an 'appalling assault on Australian values, freedoms and sovereignty'.
'Anyone who thinks it is acceptable to monitor, intimidate and potentially repatriate members of our diaspora communities should never underestimate our capabilities and resolve,' he said.
'In this year's Annual Threat Assessment, I called out these types of activities and put perpetrators on notice by stating, 'we are watching, and we have zero tolerance.''
During his address, Mr Burgess said Australians would be 'genuinely shocked' by the number of countries which were attempting to steal Australia's secrets.
'The obvious candidates are very active – I've previously named China, Russia and Iran – but many other countries are also targeting anyone and anything that could give them a strategic or tactical advantage, including sensitive but unclassified information,' Mr Burgess said.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Advertiser
10 minutes ago
- The Advertiser
Rare earths miners see opportunity in US trade war
Trade tensions between the US and China are playing into the hands of Australian rare earths miners. The weapons and electronics ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names such as praseodymium and neodymium have become the centre of a geopolitical tussle between the two largest world powers. For aspiring vertically-integrated rare earths producer Australian Strategic Minerals, that presents an attractive opportunity. The ASX-listed firm is busy working on getting its construction-ready Dubbo mine online, but has already been inundated with orders for its South Korea processing plant. It all kicked off when China retaliated to US tariffs by cutting off its near-total supply of rare earth minerals. That sent a wake-up call to American policymakers who realised they needed to take control of their supply chains, ASM chief executive Rowena Smith said on Monday. "The Korean metals plant, particularly in recent months since those restrictions that we saw imposed by China, has had a huge influx of inquiry. So we're busy ramping up our facility there," she told the Diggers and Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie. The plant, located 115kms south of Seoul, is one of a few facilities outside of China capable of refining rare earths into the high-tech metals and alloys that are then turned into magnets essential for making electronic devices. In July, the US Department of Defence invested $US400 million in rare earths miner MP Materials, including a generous guaranteed price floor of $US110 per kilogram for neodymium and praseodymium. The decision put a rocket under rare earth prices and put the market on notice that the US government was looking to do business. "At the moment, we've been talking to the DoD about funding support" for a US-based facility, Ms Smith said. "What we're seeing in the US is that the policy is extremely supportive of putting this facility into that jurisdiction. "And we are seeing that, not just at the Trump administration - the federal - but actually at the state level, very strong competition to having this facility put into their own jurisdiction." Another Australian company that has benefited from the Americans' determination to achieve supply chain independence is Lynas, the biggest producer of rare earths outside of China. The Perth-based company has been awarded funds by the DoD to construct a processing facility in Texas, which will add to its current facilities in Malaysia and Kalgoorlie. More details about the project are likely to be revealed on Tuesday morning, when Lynas general manager development Alex Logan takes to the Diggers and Dealers stage. Trade tensions between the US and China are playing into the hands of Australian rare earths miners. The weapons and electronics ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names such as praseodymium and neodymium have become the centre of a geopolitical tussle between the two largest world powers. For aspiring vertically-integrated rare earths producer Australian Strategic Minerals, that presents an attractive opportunity. The ASX-listed firm is busy working on getting its construction-ready Dubbo mine online, but has already been inundated with orders for its South Korea processing plant. It all kicked off when China retaliated to US tariffs by cutting off its near-total supply of rare earth minerals. That sent a wake-up call to American policymakers who realised they needed to take control of their supply chains, ASM chief executive Rowena Smith said on Monday. "The Korean metals plant, particularly in recent months since those restrictions that we saw imposed by China, has had a huge influx of inquiry. So we're busy ramping up our facility there," she told the Diggers and Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie. The plant, located 115kms south of Seoul, is one of a few facilities outside of China capable of refining rare earths into the high-tech metals and alloys that are then turned into magnets essential for making electronic devices. In July, the US Department of Defence invested $US400 million in rare earths miner MP Materials, including a generous guaranteed price floor of $US110 per kilogram for neodymium and praseodymium. The decision put a rocket under rare earth prices and put the market on notice that the US government was looking to do business. "At the moment, we've been talking to the DoD about funding support" for a US-based facility, Ms Smith said. "What we're seeing in the US is that the policy is extremely supportive of putting this facility into that jurisdiction. "And we are seeing that, not just at the Trump administration - the federal - but actually at the state level, very strong competition to having this facility put into their own jurisdiction." Another Australian company that has benefited from the Americans' determination to achieve supply chain independence is Lynas, the biggest producer of rare earths outside of China. The Perth-based company has been awarded funds by the DoD to construct a processing facility in Texas, which will add to its current facilities in Malaysia and Kalgoorlie. More details about the project are likely to be revealed on Tuesday morning, when Lynas general manager development Alex Logan takes to the Diggers and Dealers stage. Trade tensions between the US and China are playing into the hands of Australian rare earths miners. The weapons and electronics ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names such as praseodymium and neodymium have become the centre of a geopolitical tussle between the two largest world powers. For aspiring vertically-integrated rare earths producer Australian Strategic Minerals, that presents an attractive opportunity. The ASX-listed firm is busy working on getting its construction-ready Dubbo mine online, but has already been inundated with orders for its South Korea processing plant. It all kicked off when China retaliated to US tariffs by cutting off its near-total supply of rare earth minerals. That sent a wake-up call to American policymakers who realised they needed to take control of their supply chains, ASM chief executive Rowena Smith said on Monday. "The Korean metals plant, particularly in recent months since those restrictions that we saw imposed by China, has had a huge influx of inquiry. So we're busy ramping up our facility there," she told the Diggers and Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie. The plant, located 115kms south of Seoul, is one of a few facilities outside of China capable of refining rare earths into the high-tech metals and alloys that are then turned into magnets essential for making electronic devices. In July, the US Department of Defence invested $US400 million in rare earths miner MP Materials, including a generous guaranteed price floor of $US110 per kilogram for neodymium and praseodymium. The decision put a rocket under rare earth prices and put the market on notice that the US government was looking to do business. "At the moment, we've been talking to the DoD about funding support" for a US-based facility, Ms Smith said. "What we're seeing in the US is that the policy is extremely supportive of putting this facility into that jurisdiction. "And we are seeing that, not just at the Trump administration - the federal - but actually at the state level, very strong competition to having this facility put into their own jurisdiction." Another Australian company that has benefited from the Americans' determination to achieve supply chain independence is Lynas, the biggest producer of rare earths outside of China. The Perth-based company has been awarded funds by the DoD to construct a processing facility in Texas, which will add to its current facilities in Malaysia and Kalgoorlie. More details about the project are likely to be revealed on Tuesday morning, when Lynas general manager development Alex Logan takes to the Diggers and Dealers stage. Trade tensions between the US and China are playing into the hands of Australian rare earths miners. The weapons and electronics ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names such as praseodymium and neodymium have become the centre of a geopolitical tussle between the two largest world powers. For aspiring vertically-integrated rare earths producer Australian Strategic Minerals, that presents an attractive opportunity. The ASX-listed firm is busy working on getting its construction-ready Dubbo mine online, but has already been inundated with orders for its South Korea processing plant. It all kicked off when China retaliated to US tariffs by cutting off its near-total supply of rare earth minerals. That sent a wake-up call to American policymakers who realised they needed to take control of their supply chains, ASM chief executive Rowena Smith said on Monday. "The Korean metals plant, particularly in recent months since those restrictions that we saw imposed by China, has had a huge influx of inquiry. So we're busy ramping up our facility there," she told the Diggers and Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie. The plant, located 115kms south of Seoul, is one of a few facilities outside of China capable of refining rare earths into the high-tech metals and alloys that are then turned into magnets essential for making electronic devices. In July, the US Department of Defence invested $US400 million in rare earths miner MP Materials, including a generous guaranteed price floor of $US110 per kilogram for neodymium and praseodymium. The decision put a rocket under rare earth prices and put the market on notice that the US government was looking to do business. "At the moment, we've been talking to the DoD about funding support" for a US-based facility, Ms Smith said. "What we're seeing in the US is that the policy is extremely supportive of putting this facility into that jurisdiction. "And we are seeing that, not just at the Trump administration - the federal - but actually at the state level, very strong competition to having this facility put into their own jurisdiction." Another Australian company that has benefited from the Americans' determination to achieve supply chain independence is Lynas, the biggest producer of rare earths outside of China. The Perth-based company has been awarded funds by the DoD to construct a processing facility in Texas, which will add to its current facilities in Malaysia and Kalgoorlie. More details about the project are likely to be revealed on Tuesday morning, when Lynas general manager development Alex Logan takes to the Diggers and Dealers stage.
Perth Now
40 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Rare earths miners see opportunity in US trade war
Trade tensions between the US and China are playing into the hands of Australian rare earths miners. The weapons and electronics ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names such as praseodymium and neodymium have become the centre of a geopolitical tussle between the two largest world powers. For aspiring vertically-integrated rare earths producer Australian Strategic Minerals, that presents an attractive opportunity. The ASX-listed firm is busy working on getting its construction-ready Dubbo mine online, but has already been inundated with orders for its South Korea processing plant. It all kicked off when China retaliated to US tariffs by cutting off its near-total supply of rare earth minerals. That sent a wake-up call to American policymakers who realised they needed to take control of their supply chains, ASM chief executive Rowena Smith said on Monday. "The Korean metals plant, particularly in recent months since those restrictions that we saw imposed by China, has had a huge influx of inquiry. So we're busy ramping up our facility there," she told the Diggers and Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie. The plant, located 115kms south of Seoul, is one of a few facilities outside of China capable of refining rare earths into the high-tech metals and alloys that are then turned into magnets essential for making electronic devices. In July, the US Department of Defence invested $US400 million in rare earths miner MP Materials, including a generous guaranteed price floor of $US110 per kilogram for neodymium and praseodymium. The decision put a rocket under rare earth prices and put the market on notice that the US government was looking to do business. "At the moment, we've been talking to the DoD about funding support" for a US-based facility, Ms Smith said. "What we're seeing in the US is that the policy is extremely supportive of putting this facility into that jurisdiction. "And we are seeing that, not just at the Trump administration - the federal - but actually at the state level, very strong competition to having this facility put into their own jurisdiction." Another Australian company that has benefited from the Americans' determination to achieve supply chain independence is Lynas, the biggest producer of rare earths outside of China. The Perth-based company has been awarded funds by the DoD to construct a processing facility in Texas, which will add to its current facilities in Malaysia and Kalgoorlie. More details about the project are likely to be revealed on Tuesday morning, when Lynas general manager development Alex Logan takes to the Diggers and Dealers stage.
West Australian
40 minutes ago
- West Australian
Rare earths miners see opportunity in US trade war
Trade tensions between the US and China are playing into the hands of Australian rare earths miners. The weapons and electronics ingredients with hard-to-pronounce names such as praseodymium and neodymium have become the centre of a geopolitical tussle between the two largest world powers. For aspiring vertically-integrated rare earths producer Australian Strategic Minerals, that presents an attractive opportunity. The ASX-listed firm is busy working on getting its construction-ready Dubbo mine online, but has already been inundated with orders for its South Korea processing plant. It all kicked off when China retaliated to US tariffs by cutting off its near-total supply of rare earth minerals. That sent a wake-up call to American policymakers who realised they needed to take control of their supply chains, ASM chief executive Rowena Smith said on Monday. "The Korean metals plant, particularly in recent months since those restrictions that we saw imposed by China, has had a huge influx of inquiry. So we're busy ramping up our facility there," she told the Diggers and Dealers mining forum in Kalgoorlie. The plant, located 115kms south of Seoul, is one of a few facilities outside of China capable of refining rare earths into the high-tech metals and alloys that are then turned into magnets essential for making electronic devices. In July, the US Department of Defence invested $US400 million in rare earths miner MP Materials, including a generous guaranteed price floor of $US110 per kilogram for neodymium and praseodymium. The decision put a rocket under rare earth prices and put the market on notice that the US government was looking to do business. "At the moment, we've been talking to the DoD about funding support" for a US-based facility, Ms Smith said. "What we're seeing in the US is that the policy is extremely supportive of putting this facility into that jurisdiction. "And we are seeing that, not just at the Trump administration - the federal - but actually at the state level, very strong competition to having this facility put into their own jurisdiction." Another Australian company that has benefited from the Americans' determination to achieve supply chain independence is Lynas, the biggest producer of rare earths outside of China. The Perth-based company has been awarded funds by the DoD to construct a processing facility in Texas, which will add to its current facilities in Malaysia and Kalgoorlie. More details about the project are likely to be revealed on Tuesday morning, when Lynas general manager development Alex Logan takes to the Diggers and Dealers stage.
