Australian politician says media revelations of Chinese spying disturbing

By Lidia Kelly

 

FILE PHOTO: The new Treasurer Josh Frydenberg attends the swearing-in ceremony in Canberra, Australia August 24, 2018. REUTERS/David Gray

 

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - A senior Australian politician on Saturday said he was disturbed by the reported efforts of China to infiltrate politics in Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan detailed by an asylum seeker who said he was a Chinese spy.

 

Resource-rich Australia's ties with its most important trading partner China have deteriorated in recent years, amid accusations that Beijing is meddling in domestic affairs.

 

"These are very disturbing reports," said Australian Treasurer Josh Frydenberg, adding that government law agencies were dealing with the matter.

 

The defector, named as Wang "William" Liqiang by the Age newspaper, gave a sworn statement to the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), identifying China's senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong, the newspaper said.

 

He has also purportedly revealed details of how China funds and conducts political interference in Taiwan and Australia, the Age reported.

 

Police in China's financial hub of Shanghai, responding to the Australian report, said Wang was a 26-year-old unemployed man from the eastern province of Fujian and was wanted in connection with a fraud case.

 

On April 10, he went to Hong Kong carrying a fraudulent Chinese passport and Hong Kong permanent residency card, they added in a brief statement.

 

Wang had previously been convicted of fraud in 2016 in Fujian, Shanghai police said.

 

Reuters reported before Australia's election in May that Australian intelligence had determined China was responsible for a cyber-attack on its national parliament and three largest political parties. China denies the accusations.

 

Wang said he was a part of an intelligence operation within a Hong Kong-listed company that infiltrated universities and media, the Age said.

 

"I have personally been involved and participated in a series of espionage activities," it cited Wang as saying in his October statement to the intelligence agency.

 

The ASIO declined to comment, saying only that it did not comment on operational matters or individuals.

 

Wang also said there were plans by China to disrupt the presidential vote on the self-ruled island of Taiwan next year, the Age added.

 

Taiwan's presidential office said the government was investigating. A spokeswoman for the ruling Democratic Progressive Party called the information in Australian media a reminder of the threat from China.

 

"Whether it is the Chinese internet army or the Chinese government, it is using the democratic system of Taiwan to infringe upon our democracy," Lee Yen-jong said.

 

China considers Taiwan a wayward province and has never ruled out the use of force to bring it under Beijing's control.

 

Han Kuo-yu, the presidential candidate of Taiwan's main opposition, the China-friendly Kuomintang party, urged the government to immediately send a team to Australia to investigate.

 

Wang also gave Australia details of the kidnapping of a Hong Kong bookseller taken to the mainland and interrogated on suspicion of selling dissident materials, the paper said.

 

(Additional reporting Cate Cadell in Beijing and Ben Blanchard in Taipei; Writing by Lidia Kelly; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Ros Russell)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-11-24

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There is not much that is more disturbing than this Australian politician and his mates.

The guy's a fraud, but that won't stop neither MSM nor Oz politicians from using it for a bit of China bashing. Makes you wonder: what's it they have to hide themselves?

11 minutes ago, AsiaCheese said:

The guy's a fraud, but that won't stop neither MSM nor Oz politicians from using it for a bit of China bashing. Makes you wonder: what's it they have to hide themselves?

They need to hide their RoboDebt scam as it's become a major embarrassment! 

5 hours ago, FarFlungFalang said:

There is not much that is more disturbing than this Australian politician and his mates.

Seems the other party was more on the nose than him.  Or was the election result wrong?

Sad that so many countries have crossed the financial threshold with China where they do not feel secure in calling out the Chinese on some very serious and legitimate concerns.  

If I was Wang, I would shut my mouth & find a safe haven to live, very quickly

8 hours ago, rooster59 said:

Wang also gave Australia details of the kidnapping of a Hong Kong bookseller taken to the mainland and interrogated on suspicion of selling dissident materials, the paper said.

 

Isn't that showing exactly the problem why all the protests in Hong Kong started? 

Poor guy, getting kidnapped and tortured for running a book shop.

Whether this guy is a "G" man for the Chinese as he claims, is irrelevant, Australia's Asis will be able to cross check without any trouble, they just about know every operative in and out of China.

Same as Terrorism the Chins are operating , without the blood

Ol' mate's just a spy wanting to come in out of the cold. This piece of work was endorsed by the Libs and elected; through the use of AEC coloured election posters in Chinese telling the mainly Chinese electors to vote for her. After a kerfuffle she has admitted it was intentional, but hasn't been sanctioned in any way.

Australian Liberal MP Gladys Liu's links to secretive United Front Chinese influence arm.

https://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-14/liberal-gladys-liu-linked-to-secretive-chinese-influence-network/11288210

 

 

A troll post has been removed. 

7 hours ago, yuyiinthesky said:

 

Isn't that showing exactly the problem why all the protests in Hong Kong started? 

Poor guy, getting kidnapped and tortured for running a book shop.

No. It's nothing to do with that.

 

It was their warehouse in Shenzhen stocked with banned publications that got them into trouble, plus one of them was on the run for a fatal hit and run, despite the fact that western media paints them as cuddly book sellers. It another pack of western lies to feed the gullible.

On 11/24/2019 at 10:13 PM, Traubert said:

It was their warehouse in Shenzhen stocked with banned publications that got them into trouble, plus one of them was on the run for a fatal hit and run, despite the fact that western media paints them as cuddly book sellers. It another pack of western lies to feed the gullible.

So in your eyes it was correct and justified to kidnap this book seller in Hong Kong and make him disappear in China.

Which confirms exactly my point, the people in Hong Kong do not really like to get sent to China just because someone there accuses them of something.