Weapons expert 'wooed by China',October 01,
2006
THE Chinese military allegedly offered an Australian weapons
inventor more than $US100 million ($A134 million) to go to Beijing
and work on one of the deadliest guns in the world, the Nine
Network reports.
But Australian and US military forces are said to be determined to
ensure the gun, known as Metal Storm and developed in
Brisbane, does not end up in enemy hands.
Despite growing trade relations between China and the West, the US
still regards the Asian power as an enemy.
Listed on the Australian Stock Exchange, the company Metal Storm
Ltd makes a new type of gun which can fire more than a million
bullets a minute and can be remotely operated. The only moving
parts are the bullets leaving the gun.
The Nine Network says Chinese officials have made several attempts
to secure the weapon from the Brisbane company.
In one case, a Chinese-Australian man was on a business trip to
Beijing when he was allegedly approached by a Chinese diplomat to
secure the gun.
He was offered about $2 million to get hold of the weapon and was
told it was for the Chinese military, but after joining the Falun
Gong movement, the man decided not to follow up the offer.
Meanwhile, the inventor of the Metal Storm gun, Mike O'Dwyer, said
the Chinese military had been pursuing the technology for more than
a decade.
Mr O'Dwyer said he was offered more than $US100 million ($A134
million) to live in Beijing and help the Chinese military develop
the technology.
During a telephone call from a Chinese official, Mr O'Dwyer says he
was told the Chinese wanted him to move to Beijing.
Mr O'Dwyer said the official told him, "We don't need any Metal
Storm weapons, we don't need any of the paperwork, none of
that.
"What we want is you, and we want you and your family in
Beijing".
The official offered him about $US50 million ($A67 million) on
arrival in Beijing and promised him another $US50 million a year
later.
Mr O'Dwyer told the official he was not interested and reported the
situation to Australian Government officials, who he said were not
very receptive.
"I think it's very unlikely the Australian Government has
understood the significance, persistence, determination of this
effort (from the Chinese)," he said.
And Mr O'Dwyer says he has continued to receive numerous requests
from Chinese business people.
The Nine Network report said Defence Minister Brendan Nelson had a
"lukewarm" interest in the project and referred reporters to the
Department of Trade.
However, last week a spokesman for Mr Nelson said even if the
report was accurate, Australians had nothing to worry about.
"This will not happen and there are safeguards to prevent it," the
spokesman said.
Opposition international security spokesman Kevin Rudd said the
Government should be taking stronger action.
"I am concerned, when you've got advanced military technologies
like this, that you can't just dismiss it as some sort of laughing
matter.
"We think when you come to sell military technologies of whatever
category (that) this is a matter for national security as
well."
--
www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20506713-31477,00.html
