Dr Stanley Chiang’s role in Belt and Road group revealed
An ex-Labor candidate who chairs the Andrews Government’s multicultural business council previously held a senior post in an organisation spruiking China’s controversial Belt and Road plan.
VIC News
Don't miss out on the headlines from VIC News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A veteran Labor activist and key business adviser to the Andrews Government had a senior role in an organisation spruiking China’s controversial Belt and Road initiative.
The Herald Sun can also reveal Dr Stanley Chiang, a Labor candidate at the 2014 state election, was involved in creating a Victorian offshoot of the Communist Party’s main United Front influence organisation in Australia.
The Andrews Government is facing growing pressure over its decision to sign on to China’s trillion-dollar Belt and Road infrastructure plan, amid revelations about the Communist Party links of state Labor figures.
Dr Chiang — who chairs the government’s multicultural business ministerial council — became the honorary president of a Chinese Government-backed Belt and Road chamber of commerce in Australia in 2017.
He led a delegation to a Chinese trade fair and held talks about promoting the initiative, according to a Chinese Government website. Dr Chiang said on Wednesday he never attended the chamber’s meetings and had since quit.
“I have never lobbied anyone in the Victorian Government (or any other government) for the purpose of promoting ‘One Belt One Road’,” Dr Chiang said.
Chinese language reports uncovered by the Herald Sun also show Dr Chiang helped establish a Victorian association promoting the “peaceful reunification of China” with Taiwan in 2001.
The Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China is the Communist Party’s main influence organisation in Australia. It was previously headed by billionaire political donor Huang Xiangmo, who has since been stripped of his residency.
In 2007, in his capacity as a Victorian Multicultural Commissioner, Dr Chiang and then-Labor MP Hong Lim attended an event where China’s Consul-General in Melbourne spoke about rallying Chinese-Australians to “smash” the “Taiwan independence conspiracy”.
The Consulate-General’s website said Dr Chiang and Mr Lim gave speeches expressing hope China would “realise peaceful reunification” soon.
Dr Chiang said it was “a long time ago” and he was invited to attend those functions because he was a “public figure”.
“I don’t believe I have ever had any active role,” he said.
Dr Chiang and Mr Lim also set up the Chinese Community Council of Australia’s Victorian branch. Its leadership team has included Mike Yang, Daniel Andrews’ China adviser until 2013, the Premier’s current China adviser Marty Mei, and Nancy Yang, a staff member in the Premier’s electorate office who used to work for the Chinese Consulate-General.
The CCCAV is still registered at the address of Dr Chiang’s Thornbury GP clinic.
Dr Chiang, a former Darebin mayor, was appointed by the Andrews Government to the Austin Health board in 2017.
MORE NEWS
MOKBEL JAIL ATTACKERS COP EPIC SPRAY FROM JUDGE
PACKAGING FACILITY SHUTS AFTER POSITIVE VIRUS CASE