Reported Australian move on tech ties ‘ very disappointing’

Australian participants involved in the sister- state cooperation program between Australia’s State of Victoria and East China’s Jiangsu Province told the Global Times on Tuesday that it would be very disappointing if ties are damaged amid intensifying tensions, and they called for the continuation of positive relations.

The comment followed a report by Australian newspaper The Age, saying that the Australian federal government is considering tearing up a research agreement between the Victorian government and China’s Jiangsu Province, as the deal has been “identified as potentially contrary to Australia’s national interest,” citing federal government sources.

The Science and Technology Department of Jiangsu Province signed a deal with Victoria in 2015 on the development of technological innovation cooperation, media reported. According to the deal, funds are allocated each year to establish and jointly implement an industrial research and development cooperation plan to support scientific and technological innovation cooperation for commercialization in both places, and enhance each other’s industrial competitiveness.

David Anderson, deputy director of partnerships at Australia’s medical research organization Burnet Institute, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the institute was funded through the first round of the Victoria- Jiangsu grants for collaborative work at Boint Biotech in the province.

“It was this work that helped to complete a long- term project to develop novel technology for diagnostic tests using dimeric IgA,” said Anderson. Burnet has used the technology to develop improved serology tests for COVID- 19.

It is alarming that Canberra is considering calling off joint research activities between institutions and businesses in Victoria and Jiangsu, Chen Hong, director of the Australian Studies Center at the East China Normal University in Shanghai, told the Global Times on Tuesday.