On February 11, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Zhao Lijian was asked to comment on Australian that Chinese spies sought “to fund candidates for Australia’s opposition Labor Party in an upcoming federal election.”
Mike Burgess, director-general of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), the country’s counter-espionage agency, had said on February 9 that his agency thwarted a foreign interference plot led by a wealthy businessman with deep connections with a foreign power.
“I’ll call this person ‘the puppeteer’,” he said, without naming the individual, country behind the plot or which election was targeted.
Unnamed security sources not authorized to speak publicly confirmed to Australian media that China’s intelligence service was behind the plot.
According to reports by The Australian Broadcasting Corp (), The Sydney Morning Herald () and The Age, the plot aimed to bankroll Labor Party candidates from the state of New South Wales in the federal election set for May.
On February 11, Zhao dismissed the Australian media reports as “not worth refuting at all.”
“China has no interest in and has never interfered in Australia’s internal affairs,” he said.
That is false.
In fact, for years there have been reports alleging that China conducted malign influence activities aimed at manipulating Australian politics and civil society.
These have included political donations linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and used to buy access and influence in major Australian political parties, as well as CCP-linked efforts to co-opt and control Chinese-language media and the Chinese diaspora in Australia.
Evidence shows China attempted to shape discussion and silence criticism on Australian university campuses, and exploited Australian-funded scientific research to support the modernization of its People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
“Australia is the canary in the coal mine of Chinese Communist Party interference,” John Garnaut, former senior adviser to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
In June 2017, a joint investigation by ABC and Fairfax Media revealed that billionaire property developers Huang Xiangmo and Chau Chak Wing, two of Australia’s biggest political donors and both of Chinese descent, as suspected agents of CCP interference in Australian politics.
According to the joint investigation, in 2015, then-ASIO chief Duncan Lewis secretly warned top officials of Australia’s major political parties against accepting donations from the two men.
ASIO believed the two developers had deep connections to the Chinese Communist Party, and that their political cash “might come with strings attached,” the report said.
Chau is an Australian citizen. Huang, a Chinese national, acquired permanent residency in Australia and applied for Australian citizenship.
The two men, directly or through associated entities, donated approximately 6.7 million Australian dollars over a decade, the joint investigation revealed. The donations were often made in the lead up to federal or state election campaigns.
Among the ABC-Fairfax report’s most notorious disclosures involved a 400,000 Australian-dollar donation that Huang promised to the Labor Party in the lead up to the 2016 federal election.
Huang reportedly to rescind the offer after Labor leadership condemned China’s island building in the South China Sea and voiced support for freedom-of-navigation operations.
The day after Labor leadership condemned Beijing, Sen. Sam Dastyari, then a rising politician and Labor Party deputy whip, stood alongside Huang at a Chinese media conference in Sydney and parroted Beijing’s South China Sea talking points.
According to the ABC-Fairfax report, there was no evidence Dastyari knew about Huang’s threat to cancel the donation. Dastyari initially denied making pro-China remarks, but leaked audio proved that he did. Dastyari reportedly also gave counter-surveillance advice to Huang in 2016, allegedly warning him that ASIO might have tapped his phone.
Following those revelations, Dastyari in December 2017.
Earlier, media alleged that Huang and another CCP-linked ethnic Chinese donor had paid for Dastyari’s personal legal and travel bills, and that Dastyari had repeatedly contacted Australian immigration authorities personally to check on Huang’s citizenship application.
Huang contributed millions to Australian universities, including 1.8 million Australian dollars to University of Technology Sydney to establish the Australian-China Relations Institute.