China buys into Australia’s corridors of power
Bernard Lagan.
Political scandal that exposed Beijing’s creeping influence across the Antipodes has gripped the country, writes
An Aldi plastic bag has become an unlikely symbol for bribery amid one of the worst political scandals in Australia that has exposed the secret influence of Beijing across the Antipodes.
A Chinese billionaire – Huang Xiangmo – allegedly carried the supermarket bag into the Sydney headquarters of Australia’s Labor Party in 2015 as he sought a meeting with its leader, Bill Shorten. The carrier bag was stuffed with A$100,000 (NZ$107,000) in cash.
Soon after that the money was paid into a Labor Party account and Huang, in his mid-50s, got his meeting. There is no suggestion Shorten knew about the cash and Huang denies making the payment.
The affair might have ended there but Australia’s most powerful anti-corruption agency was tipped off about the payment and unleashed a series of embarrassing public hearings over the past few weeks that has gripped the country.
It is not just the party which has been deeply damaged by the Chinese bribery scandal. Australia’s whole political system has been undermined and reveal the global expansionist ambitions by Beijing.
The investigations have shown that secret payments from the billionaire, who has strong links to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) , were made across the political divide in Australia and that Huang was also able to inveigle his way into the social circle of the country’s leaders.
The inquiry unearthed evidence that payments were made to other Labor politicians and some of the group’s most senior officials; hundreds of thousands of dollars were paid from Huang’s businesses to the governing Liberal Party; and other funds, which were declared at the time, were deployed to fund the reelection campaign of a trade minister at the same time that Australia signed a free-trade agreement with China.
The revelations by the Independent Commission Against Corruption have also suggested how the Chinese diaspora may have been forced to collude with Beijing.
The inquiry heard that poorly paid Chinese expat restaurant workers in Sydney were coerced into claiming they pooled their resources to donate the original ‘‘Aldi’’ cash intending to mask Huang’s involvement.
In the space of a few years since moving to Sydney from Guangdong province in 2011, Huang became friends with figures from the political elite. Shorten, while still Labor Party leader, attended the wedding of Huang’s daughter. A former Labor foreign minister was appointed to head the lavish new China Relations Institute in Sydney, funded mainly by Huang.
The Chinese billionaire, who owned a A$13 million mansion in Sydney Harbour, was far more than just a property developer. He also headed the Chinese diaspora organisation called the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China that reports directly to Beijing.
Huang was thrown out of Australia last year and moved to Hong Kong.
When Huang’s former assistant was asked under oath at the inquiry last week whether the expat organisation was merely a front for China’s Communist party, he replied: ‘‘Yep.’’
What also emerged was that when Australian politicians failed to do Beijing’s bidding Huang withdrew funds to coerce them back into line. For example, he pulled a large donation to Labor when its defence spokesman challenged Chinese aggression in the South China Sea.
Clive Hamilton, an Australian academic, published a book entitled Silent Invasion last year detailing the growing influence of Beijing over Australian politics.
He told The Times: ‘‘Huang’s associates and the organisations he ran have been holding training workshops to assist young ChineseAustralians trusted by Beijing to enter politics. Some of them have also attended Summer Camps in China where loyalty to the motherland is instilled.’’
In recent days, the spotlight has fallen on the first Chinese woman to enter Australian parliament. Gladys
The investigations have shown that secret payments from the billionaire, who has strong links to the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) , were made across the political divide in Australia and that Huang was also able to inveigle his way into the social circle of the country’s leaders.
Liu, 55, has, since her election as an MP in May, been accused of having strong links to the Chinese government in investigations by The Sydney Morning Herald and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Two days ago she said she no longer belonged to any ‘‘inappropriate’’ Chinese Communist Partylinked organisations after a ‘‘lengthy’’ purge of her memberships.
Hamilton also claimed that Beijing’s operation to get its supporters elected – a doctrine known as ‘‘huaren canzheng’’ – is also being deployed in New Zealand.
Anne Marie Brady, a New Zealand academic and well-known critic of China, was given special protection by her university employer after a series of break-ins at her home in Christchurch and in her office. She told a similar official inquiry into foreign electoral interference in New Zealand this year: ‘‘The CCP efforts to interfere in foreign politics are like water on limestone: it will find the cracks and weak spots.’’
However, it was the testimony by a former Labor Party official – then the highest ranking – last Friday that was perhaps the most revealing.
Jamie Clements had become close to Huang over the years and it was he who set up the original meeting with Shorten.
Clements, who denies that he ever saw the money in the shopping bag, told the inquiry: ‘‘I think the donations system is something that leads, when there are big donations, to people being able to have access and all sorts of special treatment and I do think that’s a problem.’’
It was an acknowledgement that few Australian politicians have ever come close to making – much less their biggest donors. – The Times