spot_img
28.4 C
Philippines
Friday, March 29, 2024

Australian intel raids target lawmaker over China linksz

- Advertisement -

Australian intelligence officers and police raided the home and office of an opposition politician Friday as part of an investigation into alleged Chinese influence operations, officials said.

Security agents searched the properties linked to New South Wales state legislator Shaoquett Moselmane, amid long-standing allegations of links to the ruling Chinese Communist Party.

The Australian Security Intelligence Organization confirmed to AFP that “search warrant activity is occurring in Sydney as part of an ongoing investigation.”

They added that there was no “specific threat to the community.”

Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Australia would “stand up” to any attempt at foreign interference.

- Advertisement -

“The threats in this area are real, the need to take action is necessary,” Morrison said. “We won’t cop anyone coming and seeking to interfere in our political system.”

Moselmane’s pro-Beijing position has long raised eyebrows even among colleagues in the Labor Party.

New South Wales Labor Party leader Jodi McKay told reporters she was informed about the operation on Moselmane’s home and office and said she had begun the process of suspending his membership of the party.

“It’s dreadfully concerning,” she said. “It’s important that every MP focuses on the people in their state.”

Moselmane has publicly praised Xi Jinping’s “unswerving” leadership during the coronavirus pandemic, contrasting it favorably with Australia’s own response.

Local media have reported he hired a staffer who trained at Beijing’s Chinese Academy of Governance, a school of party members going into public office.

The operation is another signal of authorities’ new willingness to tackle allegations of Chinese subversion of Australian politics and is likely to raise the temperature in an already fractious relationship between Beijing and Canberra.

Last year the former head of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization, Duncan Lewis, said China wanted to “take over” Australia’s political system with an “insidious” and systematic campaign of espionage and influence peddling.

Lewis at the time cited the case of Labor party powerbroker Sam Dastyari—dubbed “Shanghai Sam”—who was forced to resign in 2018 after taking tens of thousands of dollars from a Communist Party-linked donor.

Morrison’s government passed foreign interference legislation following revelations that wealthy Chinese businessmen with links to Beijing had been bankrolling local parties and candidates across the political spectrum.

The law notably required the registration of any person or organisation acting on behalf of a foreign government.

As part of that crackdown, the government barred a high-profile Chinese businessman who held permanent Australian residency from returning to the country.  

- Advertisement -

LATEST NEWS

Popular Articles