A Liberal Party spokesman said it remains the responsibility of MPs and candidates to engage with members of the community, but candidates from all parties must heed warnings from national security agencies about foreign interference.
The Western Australian Liberal Party has been revealed to be beginning to review party candidates’ interactions with Chinese groups due to concerns about Chinese Communist Party infiltration of the party in Australia. Experts on China say the Communist Party is adept at using wealthy businessmen who control Chinese groups to lure politicians.
According to a March 12 report on WA.com, in recent months the WA Liberal Party has begun to step up scrutiny of party candidates’ interactions with Chinese groups, and senior sources within the party have even said that attendance at Chinese group events has been banned, although the Liberal Party has refused to confirm this publicly. Previously, two WA Liberal candidates attended a dinner party with a wealthy Chinese businessman who has close ties to the Chinese Communist Party’s United Front in Australia and is very supportive of the Communist Party’s Belt and Road project.
A Liberal Party spokesman said it remains the responsibility of MPs and candidates to engage with members of the community, but candidates from all parties must heed warnings from national security agencies about foreign interference, and the Liberals have refused to accept foreign donations, while Labor has not ruled out the possibility.
Nathan Attrill, a China Policy researcher at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), told WA Today that Chinese organizations are often led by wealthy Chinese businessmen with ties to the Communist Party, and that these are not community service organizations but Communist Party lobbying groups that are adept at using their ties to Beijing as bait to lure Australian politicians with investment.
He added: “This is a deliberate strategy by the Chinese Communist Party. Not only are they [wealthy Chinese businessmen] able to fund Australian politicians, but they are also able to interact with the Chinese community here and have some control.”
“That’s the way the CCP operates and the way they understand things like diplomacy and influence.”
Last November, Australian Security Intelligence Service (ASIO) Director Mike Burgess alerted MPs to the possibility of foreign powers exerting influence over them through their friends, business partners and even loved ones.
In a two-page warning letter, Burgess said that federal lawmakers are particularly “attractive targets” for foreign spies looking to use donations and business opportunities to create a “sense of indebtedness” for lawmakers.
While acknowledging that participation in community events is an “important part” of a politician’s duties, Bergers also urged the need for lawmakers to “participate in these events on the assumption that what they say can be passed on to foreign powers.
Bergers told a parliamentary committee: “Foreign governments secretly order people to make connections [with politicians], to suck up to them, and one day they will ask for something in return. Some innocent people may not even know that they have been influenced, and that influence is being exercised in a way that is contrary to (Australia’s) national interest.”
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