Australia’s top intelligence official directly accused China’s security services on Tuesday of widespread intellectual property theft and political interference — while arguing Beijing still doesn’t grasp how Western democracies operate.
According to The Associated Press, Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), said he would not back down from calling out Beijing’s behavior.
“We all spy on each other, but we don’t conduct wholesale intellectual property theft. We don’t actually interfere with political systems and we don’t undertake high-harm activity,” Burgess said during a speech at the Lowy Institute in Sydney.
Burgess added that China’s denials of wrongdoing show a fundamental misunderstanding of ASIO’s independence.
“Every time I’ve done that (called China out), there’s an army of Chinese government officials that go around complaining to almost everyone in this country across the system — public and private — but not to me,” Burgess said.
“If they were smart as they should be — and they are smart — they would understand a Western liberal democracy and the role and the statutory standing of the security service. We work for the government of the day but our security assessments and our security action are independent,” he continued.
“They clearly don’t understand the system, because if they want to complain about ASIO doing its job and explaining the threats to the people we’re protecting, including calling out China when we need to, it won’t stop my resolve, it won’t stop my officers from doing the job and we’ll continue to call them out when I need to,” he added.
Tensions between Canberra and Beijing reached a low point in 2020 after Australia passed laws banning covert foreign interference in its political system, sparking outrage from China.
While trade and diplomatic relations have improved since Australia’s current government took office in 2022, security ties remain tense as Australia aligns with the United States to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific.
Burgess also emphasized cooperation with U.S. intelligence agencies, noting a strong working relationship with FBI Director Kash Patel.
“When it comes to protecting Australians, the Americans are great mates and they help us every day and we do our fair share of helping them as well. That’s the way it should be. I’ve seen no change to things since President (Donald) Trump was reelected,” Burgess said.
In his 2023 annual threat assessment, Burgess warned that Australia faces an “unprecedented” level of espionage and foreign interference, with more Australians being targeted by foreign agents than ever before.
