As Australia-China relations continue to deteriorate, Australian intelligence authorities have warned that many popular local Chinese-language news media, including websites and WeChat, are being manipulated and censored by the CCP, and in some cases directly managed by the CCP, to advance China’s strategic interests.
The Australian Office of National Intelligence (ONI) recently conducted a targeted analysis of more than 20 local Chinese-language news websites and WeChat public websites. Sources indicated that more than two-thirds of the senior staff of the news sites evaluated were affiliated with local pro-Beijing groups. Some of the media owners or editors were even members of the United Front Worker’s Organization.
The National Intelligence Office concluded that some of the most popular local Chinese-language news sites have ties to Beijing through the Communist Party’s United Front Work Department’s China News Service, and named “Southeast Australia” as a news media platform that is fully and openly controlled by the Communist Party.
The investigation also found that the management of the popular WeChat public website Sydney Today, which is popular with local Chinese, is linked to the Chinese United Front Work Department.
Hu Yuming, a spokesman for the Australian Values Protection Alliance, told the station that the investigation brought back unpleasant memories of Sydney Today.
More than two years ago I was deported after being denied entry by the Shanghai authorities, and they (Sydney Today) were saying exactly the same thing as the media in mainland China. I became a traitor, so I don’t read anything from Sydney Today. Except for a few that have kept their own identity, the rest are basically problematic.
Sources indicate that Melbourne’s Dayang Media and Sydney’s Nanhai Media may also be under the direction of China’s United Front Work Department. The “Micro Sydney” has 400,000 subscribers. The “South China Sea Media” published the Chinese version of Qantas inflight magazine, also held the annual Chinese New Year activities in Sydney, many Australian dignitaries have also participated in these activities in the past.
Many Australian dignitaries have also participated in these events in the past,” said Hu.
The media do not rely on one article or two articles; they rely on their subtle influence to instill disinformation and fake news, with their own prejudices and tendencies, and slowly brainwash them to make people believe that they are true.
There are about 1.2 million Chinese residents in Australia, and the local Chinese media is their main source of information. According to Chen Yonglin, a former Chinese diplomat in Sydney, Beijing believes that the Chinese media can influence the decisions of the local government.
When the CCP is in diplomatic trouble, it will always think of the Chinese overseas, and use the Chinese people’s attachment to the motherland to influence public opinion overseas, and thus influence the Australian government,” Chen said.
Feng Chongyi, a scholar at the University of Technology, Sydney, said that Beijing’s influence on the Chinese media in Australia is all-encompassing.
Feng Chongyi said: “The leadership (of the Chinese media), such as editors-in-chief and presidents, are integrated into the united front network of the Chinese Communist Party. Nowadays, the profit margin of the media is very thin, and it is very dependent on advertising from the business community. Chinese companies are more or less related to mainland China.
In his view, the room for survival of independent Chinese media has become very narrow in recent years.
Feng said: “When a boss places an ad, he asks for a guarantee that the media is pro-communist and pro-Chinese. If he characterizes you as an unfriendly overseas hostile force, you won’t get the ad.
According to an Australian China expert, foreign governments generally do not directly fund or interfere with community media in Australia, and the CCP is a prime example of this, not by creating fake news but by blocking real news. The Australian government’s top priority, according to the expert, is to provide more resources to independent organizations that provide Chinese-language news services.
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