PM keeping eye on possible Chinese role in breakins

PRIME Minister Jacinda Ardern yesterday weighed in on the mysterious case of the professor and the breakins, instructing the nation’s intelligence agencies to look into claims made by a China expert from Christchurch.

Last week The New Zealand Herald broke news University of Canterbury academic AnneMarie Brady told an Australian parliamentary committee she linked her work to a spate of recent burglaries and her sources on the Chinese mainland had been interrogated by state security officials.

Prof Brady gained international profile in September after publishing research detailing the extent of China’s influence campaigns in New Zealand focusing on a nexus of political donations, appointment of directorships and information management.

She told the Australian Parliament her office on campus was broken into in December, and last week her home was burgled. Computers, phones and USB storage devices were stolen but other obvious valuables were ignored by thieves.

The latter event was preceded by an anonymous letter detailing pushback against those not toeing the official line out of Beijing and warning: ‘‘You are next.’’

The matter is being investigated by the police.

At her postCabinet press conference yesterday, the Prime Minister said she first became aware of the affair through media reports and expressed alarm over Prof Brady’s claims.

‘‘I think anyone would be concerned [about] any criminal act if it were in response to the work she’s doing,’’ Ms Ardern said. As minister responsible for national security and intelligence she was following up the matter and would ‘‘certainly be asking some questions’’.

Approached for comment yesterday, a spokesman for the Security Intelligence Service — the agency responsible for preserving national security domestically — reiterated they did not comment on individual cases.

The Prime Minister said she expected to be made aware of any developments in the case.

‘‘I would certainly want to be informed if there was evidence this was a targeted action against someone who was raising issues around foreign interference . . . If there’s evidence of that we should be taking stock of that and taking action,’’ she said.

The possibility academic freedom was being threatened in such a heavyhanded manner also drew alarm from the university sector, with Sharn Riggs, the national secretary of the Tertiary Education Union,

saying the claims were without precedent in New Zealand.

‘‘This is quite extreme, and obviously very concerning to have a member’s personal safety put in danger, but also from a policy perspective around academics’ right to investigate and publish in these areas,’’ she said.

Ms Riggs said academics occasionally faced pressure from political or business lobbies over their work and this needed to be carefully guarded against.

She called on university vicechancellors to take a stand on the issue. — NZME