International Australia's Position in Asia-Pacific Geopolitics, as Beijing's Rising Shadow Casts Over Canberra.

[Happy Man]

Asio investigating Chinese plot to plant spy in Australia’s parliament after Liberal party member found dead
Australian Associated Press | Sun 24 Nov 2019

Asio director general Mike Burgess has confirmed the agency was aware of a Chinese plot to infiltrate parliament, saying ‘hostile foreign intelligence activity continues to pose a real threat to our nation and its security’.​

The head of Asio has issued a rare public statement confirming the domestic spy agency was aware of an alleged Chinese plot to infiltrate Australia’s parliament.

Explosive allegations aired on 60 Minutes suggested Chinese operatives offered $1m to fund Liberal party member Nick Zhao’s tilt at federal parliament.

The 32-year-old was found dead in a Melbourne hotel room after reportedly approaching Asio to discuss the plot.

“Australians can be reassured that Asio was previously aware of matters that were reported today, and has been actively investigating them,” Asio director general Mike Burgess said in a statement.

“Hostile foreign intelligence activity continues to pose a real threat to our nation and its security. Asio will continue to confront and counter foreign interference and espionage in Australia.”

The Nationals backbencher Barnaby Joyce said he was not surprised by allegations China tried to plant a spy in parliament.

“I know the Chinese, in one way or another, have been trying to infiltrate our parliament, whether online or directly through politicians,” he told the Seven Network.

“We must be resolute and strong and realise this is the new world order we are living in.”

Labor has asked the Morrison government for an urgent briefing and public explanation.

The deputy opposition leader, Richard Marles, said people needed to be confident Australia was free from foreign interference.

“We obviously want to understand everything that we can know about this,” Marles told the ABC.

“But on the face of it and what’s in the public domain right now, this is a very, very serious matter.”

The Liberal backbencher Andrew Hastie said he was briefed on Zhao’s death as chair of the parliamentary committee on intelligence and security.

“It was surreal, it was like something out of a spy novel happening in Melbourne with impunity,” he told 60 Minutes.

“This isn’t just cash in a bag, given for favours, this is a state-sponsored attempt to infiltrate our parliament.

“Using an Australian citizen and basically run them as an agent of foreign influence in our democratic system. So this is really significant and Australians should be very, very concerned about this.”

It was the second explosive allegation over the weekend of attempts by the Chinese government to influence Australian politics.

Nine newspapers reported on Saturday that a Chinese spy provided Asio with details of how Chinese military intelligence officers fund and conduct political interference operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...as-parliament-after-liberal-member-found-dead

this is insane. This is why you don’t let hostile people in. Perhaps they are just working to undermine you for the benefit of the home country.

This story makes the very real threat undeniable.

 

[RetiredSlave]

Soooo, hows that patriotism going for everyone?

 

[original doom]

this is insane. This is why you don’t let hostile people in. Perhaps they are just working to undermine you for the benefit of the home country.

This story makes the very real threat undeniable.

what western nation isnt being undermined. as we speak america is readily admitting thousands of chinese students...lol so are we.

 

[original doom]

im going to play devils advocate here.

perhaps for the greater good of australia it would be wise to side with china. contrary to what others may say im not sure australias service industry is quite as resilient as is led to believe sooo "getting tough" with china will not have a positive benefit on our economy. the chinese have already blocked our coal exports and if they can find some reliable iron ore sources they will block them aswell.

lets be real here it was america under nixon or was it reagan who cut all of those well thought out trade deals with the chinese. now it seems australia is getting added pressure from america not to get too chummy with china.

im just not surprised by all these recent allegations of chinese spies due to the fact that australia has quite a large chinese population.

 

[Arkain2K]

what western nation isnt being undermined. as we speak america is readily admitting thousands of chinese students...lol so are we.

I can sense that the Chinese students being sent to the U.S are a very different variety as the "patriotic" type being sent to Australia or Canada.

From my personal experience, the Chinese students who are taking classes in the U.S are more educated by their parents and thus can easily tell the difference between loving China and loving the Chinese Communist Party, whereas many of those who are heading to Australia and Canada are deeply-brainwashed by the Chinese education system and unable to separate those two concepts.

If those studying in the U.S are Communist sympathizers or their families are connected to the Chinese government, they are embarrassed enough to keep it in the down-low, rather than opening flaunting their love for the Chinese Communist Party like they are doing in Sidney, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Adelaide.

Perhaps that's why we don't have any major incidents of pro-Beijing Chinese students attacking pro-Hong Kong Chinese students on American campus, whereas that's a regular occurrence in Australia.

 

[Stoic1]

 

[Arkain2K]