Former spy tells Defending Australia forum how China’s spies work in our country

A former secret agent has revealed the depths of infiltration by Chinese operatives in Australia – with more than 1200 spies active here.

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More than 1200 Chinese spies – including 200 professionals – are in Australia collecting information, surveilling and harassing targets for the communist regime, a former operative says.

The former Chinese spy, who goes by the name Eric, warned Australia must not stand idle in any potential US-China conflict or “it’s going to be the start of Australia’s nightmare”.

An interpreter due to assist Eric at News Corp Australia’s Defending Australia event in Canberra quit minutes before it was due to begin out of fear that he would speak negatively of the Chinese regime.

His comments were instead translated by freed Australian journalist Cheng Lei, who said the interpreter’s reaction highlighted a deep and widespread fear.

“That’s what we’re defending against,” she said.

Asked about the number of spies in Australia, Eric conservatively estimated there were 1000 “low-level operatives”.

“These are Chinese people, mostly directed by the Ministry of State Security or the Public Security Bureau or a consulate,” he said via Ms Cheng.

“They don’t act frequently, they can show their faces, they’re not actually offered covers by the Chinese government.

Former spy “Eric” at News Corp Australia’s Defending Australia summit at Old Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Martin Ollman

“They collect info, surveil, harass and they can be expended.”

There are an additional 200 “professional operatives”, he said. Of those, there are about 30 who he said have been sent by “the 9-10 more cashed-up provincial governments” and 60 who have been sent by the central government, the Public Security Bureau and the Ministry of State Security.

The remainder, he estimated, have been sent by the Chinese military.

Eric was a dissident who was recruited by the Chinese government and worked as a spy for several years before he quit. He arrived in Australia last year.

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Through Ms Cheng, he noted that some academics and strategy experts believe that, if there is a US-China conflict, Australia should not take sides.

“He doesn’t know whether these voices are being funded by China but he thinks, if Australia stands by and not help the US, it’s going to be the start of Australia’s nightmare,” Ms Cheng said on his behalf.

Eric was joined on a foreign affairs-focused panel by Liberal Senator and former Australian Ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma, who said he recently visited Israel and found “it’s still a country that’s living on October the 8th”.

“What I detected amongst Israeli people is that the nation is still very much in trauma but quite resolute, and this is across the political spectrum, that only way forward is through the comprehensive defeat of Hamas,” he said.

Mr Sharma pointed out that, in the last seven months, Hamas has done more to progress the cause of Palestinian statehood than had happened in the last 10 years.

“We shouldn’t be rewarding Hamas, we shouldn’t be allowing Hamas to look as if it’s being rewarded,” he said.

He said such progression was evident, citing that Israel is now before the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, European states are unilaterally recognising the state of Palestine and there is a vote in the General Assembly urging recognition of Palestine.

“What that does is say to Hamas: your pathway yields results,” he said.

“The Palestinian moderate pathway, that is committed to negotiation and coexistence with the state of Israel, that’s a dead end,” he said.

The third member of the panel, hosted by Ms Cheng, was Ukraine Ambassador Vasyl Myroshnychenko, who said Russia will be emboldened if it prevails over Ukraine.

He said, if that happens, Russia may work more closely with other regimes – like North Korea.

“We can only imagine what that co-operation between Russia and North Korea can actually mean,” he said.

Originally published as Former spy tells Defending Australia forum how China’s spies work in our country