Weapons expert 'wooed by China',October 01, 2006THE 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."
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www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20506713-31477,00.html
