References

Abstract

In 2017, a Chinese military company proudly announced production of an innovative cargo drone, marketed as suitable as an armed one-use military cargo plane which could drop off supplies in difficult mountainous terrain. 1 China's contested mountainous border with India would be one such location. The plane's technology originated from a well-known New Zealand company that had once been owned by New Zealand taxpayers. The technology had been transferred in a deal that was endorsed by the 2008-2017 New Zealand National Party government. Praising the BAIC-Pacific Aerospace partnership in 2014, then Minister of Trade, Tim Groser, remarked-without any trace of irony-"Relationships like this demonstrate that we don't just export dairy and lamb to China, but also our technology. " 2 New Zealand has indeed increasingly been exporting our innovative and sensitive technology to China. As this paper outlines, some of these exchanges appear to breach our domestic laws and international commitments. The People's Republic of China (PRC) is using civilian links with Western countries to access cutting-edge scientific expertise with military-end-use. China's exploitation of civilian channels for military purposes raises national security, as well as reputational, ethical, and intellectual property risks for New Zealand. New Zealand's experience of grappling with China's covert military links may be relevant for other nations as they too re-assess their scientific, commercial, and educational relations with the PRC.