Lawmaker investigated
An Australian state lawmaker said yesterday that he was not a suspect in a police investigation into unnamed people advancing China’s goals in Australia, days after his home and office were searched by police.
Shaoquett Moselmane, a member of the opposition Labor Party from
New South Wales, said he was told the investigation was looking into other people suspected of working with China and he denied any wrongdoing.
‘‘I have never jeopardized the welfare of our country and our people,’’ he told a news conference.
Police have not said why they searched Moselmane’s Sydney home on Friday and also executed a warrant for his parliamentary offices.
Australia has accused China of seeking to interfere in its domestic politics, allegations that have strained relations and led Australia in 2018 to pass new national security laws that outlaw covert foreign interference in domestic politics and make industrial espionage for a foreign power a crime.
Moselmane said yesterday that he would cooperate with Australian Federal Police in their investigation but also exercise his right to remain silent. Moselmane denied media reports that he had accepted Chinese government-funded trips to China.
In April, he stood down as assistant president of the New South Wales upper house after praising Chinese President Xi Jinping’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. He said Xi had demonstrated ‘‘unswerving leadership’’ and decisiveness.
Moselmane said yesterday that his views on China’s handling of the pandemic were consistent with those of the US president and World Health Organization.
The Chinese Communist Party-controlled Global Times newspaper yesterday accused Australia of ‘‘waging an intensifying espionage campaign against China’’.