Via the Herald Sun:
AUSTRALIA’S two major political parties have received almost $6 million from a shadowy “front” for the Chinese Government.
Parliamentary researchers have uncovered the massive extent of donations made to the Liberal and Labor parties by pro-Beijing figures in the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China.
…In a confidential report obtained by the Herald Sun, the council is classed as an “agent of the Chinese state” whose members are “covert conduits” for the Communist Party’s efforts to influence policy.
But the crackdown may not stop donations from some council members because they are Australian citizens.
Key figures including property billionaires Huang Xiangmo and another Chinese businessman combined to donate $2.6 million to the Labor Party and $3 million to the Liberal Party in recent years.
Labor MP Michael Danby, the secretary of the party’s national security and trade committee, said the council was acting “as a business front” for the Communist Party and the donations were part of a “well-funded and prolonged influence operation by Beijing”.
…He said this was part of Beijing’s strategy “to interfere in Australian foreign policy”, which also included funding “fake pro-China think-tanks” and purchasing Chinese language publications.
…“It may be the case that the wealthy business members and affiliates provide all funding, with the businessmen considering such funding as part of their ‘patriotic duty’, and being rewarded with positions on Chinese bodies and possibly commercial opportunities in China,” the report said.
She’ll be right.
