China has overtaken the United States as Australia's biggest partner in scientific research, according to a new report, despite attempts by the country's defense and security services to have Australian universities distance themselves from their Chinese partners, most of which are universities.
"Global collaboration on research is critical if we are going to solve the world's greatest challenges," a spokesperson for the University of Sydney said while commenting on a report by the Australia-China Relations Institute.
The University of Sydney has been collaborating with Chinese researchers since the 1960s on projects that the university said have improved the lives of countless people around the world.
"We now publish over a thousand academic articles with Chinese co-authors a year, and we have 340 academics," the spokesperson said.
One of the authors of the report, ACRI Director James Laurenceson, said Australia's scientific successes have long involved working with international partners. "And with the scale of scientific research undertaken in China much greater than in Australia, it is in Australia's interests to engage.
"It is also difficult for China to misappropriate scientific knowledge from Australian researchers that has yet to be created and that is openly shared once it is," he said.
When research with international partners involves sensitive technologies and projects of a classified nature, or is expected to yield commercially valuable intellectual property, controls exist to manage the risks, Laurenceson said.
"These controls are regularly reviewed to ensure they remain 'fit for purpose', and universities have a strong track record of compliance," he added.
Source: China Daily
