Australia ‘is China’s puppet state’
Thousands of Chinese agents have secretly infiltrated the worlds of academia, business, politics and the religious establishment in Australia as part of a long-term espionage strategy, it has been alleged.
The level of infiltration and influence-peddling is so extensive that it has eroded the country’s sovereignty, one of Australia’s leading intellectuals claims in a book.
In Silent Invasion: How China is Turning Australia into a Puppet State, Clive Hamilton says that the agents arrived in waves of Chinese migration to Australia and stretch across various strata of society. They include ‘‘billionaires with shady histories and tight links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), media owners creating Beijing mouthpieces, ‘patriotic’ students brainwashed from birth, and professionals marshalled into pro-Beijing associations set up by
AUSTRALIA:
the Chinese embassy’’.
Hamilton is a well-regarded author of bestselling books on consumerism and climate change. His latest work was let go by two large publishers who feared reprisals from Beijing, leading some MPs to push for its publication on an Australian parliamentary website with the protection of privilege. It is due to be published on Monday by Hardie Grant – the company that in 1985 released Spycatcher ,a memoir by former MI5 intelligence officer Peter Wright.
The issue of Chinese influence in Australia has been a concern for the conservative government of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.
Hamilton identifies 40 former and sitting politicians he claims befriended the Chinese regime. Those named as being key figures of influence on promoting proChina policies include former Labor prime ministers Bob Hawke and Paul Keating, both of whom courted China after they left office.
‘‘Hawke and Keating, when their political careers ended, they went on to become reliable friends of China, shuttling between the two countries, mixing with the top cadres and tycoons,’’ Hamilton writes. ‘‘While Hawke’s China links proved lucrative, Keating was more interested in influence.’’
An entire chapter, titled Beijing Bob, is dedicated to former Labor foreign minister Bob Carr, whom it accuses of pushing an aggressively pro-China stance in the party.
The book details the appointment in 2015 of Carr as the founding director of the AustraliaChina Relations Institute, created with a A$1.8 million donation from Huang Xiangmo, a billionaire Chinese property developer based in Sydney who has donated millions to Australian politicians. Huang is described in the book as being one of Beijing’s most powerful agents of influence.
Huang denies that his donations and influence within Australian society are connected to the Chinese government, describing the allegations as innuendo and racism.
Carr has previously rejected any suggestion that he was working with or for the Chinese regime or its proxies.
The book contains a list of Chinese-Australian academics who Hamilton says are allowing the transfer of potentially sensitive security-related research – into space, artificial intelligence and computer engineering – from universities to the Chinese military. – The Times