Australian Military Tech Supplier Linked to CCP United Front, Inquiry Hears
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An Australian tech CEO linked to Chinese Communist Party-backed (CCP) groups has been supplying equipment to the Australian Defence Force and police for years, according to a federal senator.
The CCP’s United Front Work Department aims to influence the overseas Chinese diaspora (and political leaders) while taking a lead role in targeting minority or spiritual groups like Falun Gong (Falun Dafa).
Liberal Senator Claire Chandler raised the issue during a Senate Defence, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee hearing, saying archived online documents identified Jeff Li, the general manager of Pioneer Computers as a member of the Guangdong Overseas Exchange Association, which operates under the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office.
“These organisations are well-known appendages of the United Front Work Department of the CCP?” she asked.
“Is the [Defence] Department aware that one of its contractors for military services has known connections with United Front?”
But the Department’s First Assistant Secretary for Joint Systems, Gavin Rawlins, said he was not aware of that information.
Its latest contract with the Australian Defence Force (ADF), worth $345,565 and awarded in May this year, was for counter-drone trials.
Defence Secretary Greg Moriarty assured the Committee that any relevant security information brought to the Department’s attention would be taken into account.
“We will take any information, and that will go into the framework on which we approach this and anything else involving this company if we can get to the bottom of it,” he said.
“Our defence industry security programme has some criteria which steer companies in very firm directions about ownership considerations.”
But Senator Chandler said the situation was “unacceptable” and asked whether the Department would now review future dealings with Pioneer Computers.
“It’s not a great look if the Department has been outsourcing, or engaging with the services, [of] a company with known links to the CCP, is it?” she asked.
Company Denies Links
However, the company has rejected the allegation.“Mr Li is not and never has been a council member of the Guangdong Provincial Overseas Chinese Affairs Office,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“He is not affiliated with the organisation. As he is not affiliated with the organisation, there is nothing to disclose.”
On Dec. 4, WA Police Minister Reece Whitby dismissed concerns about data security. The company has described their equipment as “cutting-edge drone in a box technology.”
“No, I’m not [concerned], and I think the police commissioner has been on the record in terms of the way information is not passed on to third parties from WA Police,” he said.
Multiple Government Contracts Dating Back Years
On its websites, Pioneer and its affiliated businesses list several contracts across government and the public sector.These include supplying up to 10,000 computers and devices to more than 400 local councils in New South Wales (NSW), Queensland, the Northern Territory and Tasmania, up to 3,000 computers to prisons in the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, and “the world’s most advanced” smart water and gas meter with Sydney Water.
In 2007, it was selected as one of a handful of vendors on the $500 million NSW whole-of-government ITS panel, which included supplying rugged computers, notebooks, and tablet PCs.
In the defence industry, the company says it has supplied up to $100 million worth of VPX computers and displays for Defence Land 400 and Sea 1,000 projects, along with other electronic warfare solutions in the last five years.
Pioneer Computers was established in 1996 and describes itself as “Australia’s leading manufacturer of ICT and IoT equipment.” It has production facilities in Sydney and overseas.
In 2015, it won a NSW state government award for work boosting economic relations with foreign countries.
At the time, Li said Pioneer had won a contract worth up to $100 million to supply hardware for China’s high-speed rail network, including 300,000 tablets for passenger use.
The company also has strategic contracts with Chinese state entities, including work on a $270 million project run by China’s Ministry of Education to upgrade computer exam systems at schools in Southern China.
Although the organisation states it has members across the Asia-Pacific, its website features only photographs of Li meeting Australian political figures, including Anthony Albanese, Penny Wong, Scott Morrison, and Tony Abbott.
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