The partnership will establish a research and development facility in Melbourne and could include work on advanced manufacturing,robotics,artificial intelligence,3D printing and big data,sources toldThe AgeandThe Sydney Morning Herald.
COMAC,China's rival to the United States'Boeing and Europe's Airbus,has been tied to a major theft of intellectual property involving Beijing's Ministry of State Security and state-backed hackers.
In a report released last week,leading cyber security firm CrowdStrike said COMAC's newly developed flagship aircraft,the C919,was the beneficiary of technology systematically stolen from global component suppliers in a years-long campaign.
The effort was said to involve a program of cyber-attacks,forced technology transfer and theft by insiders working at the companies. CrowdStrike concluded that China was seeking to"cut corners"in developing its domestic aerospace manufacturing capacity.
The Monash deal attracted a warning from Education Minister Dan Tehan who said"the government expects that Australian universities act lawfully and ethically".
"Our government established a foreign interference taskforce to create best practice guidelines for universities to ensure collaboration with foreign entities are transparent,and in a manner that avoids harm to Australia's interests,"Mr Tehan said.
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