<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/sep/09/china-and-russia-increasingly-working-in-tandem-to-undermine-faith-in-governance-top-finnish-official-claims>
"Finland’s political state secretary for foreign affairs and defence has
claimed China and Russia are increasingly working “in tandem” to disrupt and
interfere in free societies, and undermine faith in governance.
In an interview with
Guardian Australia to mark his official visit to
Australia and New Zealand, Pasi Rajala said Russia would not be able to sustain
its war in Ukraine without help from Beijing, including through supply of
critical technology and the proceeds of oil and gas sales.
“You need to expose what China and Russia are doing, bearing in mind that they
work together, and make it known to the public,” he said.
“All the cyber-attacks, meddling with politics – in Europe there have been
assassination plots.”
Last month, a Chinese national was charged over alleged foreign interference in
Australia, including covert collection of information about a Buddhist
association which is banned by Beijing.
It is third time foreign interference charges have been laid in Australia since
new laws were introduced in 2018.
Earlier this year, Asio chief, Mike Burgess, warned foreign agents were
targeting the Aukus nuclear submarine program, as well as critical
infrastructure and sensitive government data.
Russia is accused of serious foreign interference in Europe and the UK. A
Russian government plan to assassinate the chief executive of a German arms
manufacturer was thwarted in mid-2024.
Earlier this month a flight carrying the European Commission president, Ursula
von der Leyen, was hit by GPS jamming in Bulgaria. Authorities said the
incident was suspected Russian interference.
Rajala said Russia and China are “closely knit” and China wants to learn from
the battlefield experience in the Ukraine war.
“We want to learn from Australia how they deal with China. On the one hand, you
still want to keep trading because it’s so important economically, but somehow,
keep them at arm’s length when it comes to some critical national security
interests.
“And maybe Australia can learn something from us on how we’ve dealt with Russia
over decades.”"
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
