Victorian Belt and Road consultant was involved in Labor-linked Chinese community organisation
A consultant caught in a political storm over her role on the Andrews Government’s Belt and Road deal was also involved in a Chinese community association with ties to the Labor Party.
VIC News
Don't miss out on the headlines from VIC News. Followed categories will be added to My News.
A consultant to the Andrews Government on its controversial Belt and Road deal with China was also on the executive committee of a Labor-linked Chinese community association.
Jean Dong, who leads the Melbourne-based Australia-China Belt and Road Initiative, has received two taxpayer-funded contracts and talked up her involvement in connecting Victoria to the trillion-dollar Chinese infrastructure plan.
She has been caught in a political storm this week over Premier Daniel Andrews’ decision to sign up to Belt and Road, amid renewed criticism from Prime Minister Scott Morrison and US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
The Herald Sun can reveal Ms Dong used to be part of the executive committee of the Chinese Community Council of Australia’s Victorian branch, an organisation with close ties to the Labor Party.
The CCCAV’s advisory council has been chaired by ex-Labor MP Hong Lim and its president at the time of Ms Dong’s involvement was Mike Yang, who was Mr Andrews’ senior adviser on China until 2013.
The Premier’s current China adviser Marty Mei was also on the executive at the time.
Ms Dong was involved during the CCCAV’s 2015 “Piercing the Bamboo Ceiling” conference, which included speeches from Mr Andrews and former Liberal trade minister Andrew Robb — who is on now ACBRI’s advisory board.
She refused to comment when contacted by the Herald Sun on Thursday.
While Ms Dong denied she had a formal role with the CCCAV, it is understood she was involved for the anti-racism conference and did not maintain an ongoing association.
The conference had received a $50,000 sponsorship from a company run by controversial Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo, who has since been stripped of his Australian residency.
The Herald Sun revealed in 2018 how several of Mr Lim’s staffers were involved in running the CCCAV, that it used the same PO Box as Mr Lim’s Labor branch, and that several local Labor members were signed up to the party using the CCCAV’s address.
Ms Dong has since been influential in Victoria’s negotiations on Belt and Road.
In 2017, a post on China’s Melbourne Consulate-General website described how her Australian-funded ACBRI organisation would help the Andrews Government sign its deal with China.
“The centre will be responsible for planning and implementing specific projects, and strive to make Victoria a model for Sino-Australian ‘Belt and Road Initiative’ co-operation,” it said.
Prior to signing up to Belt and Road, Mr Andrews was the only Australian state leader invited to a major Chinese forum about the initiative in 2017.
He reportedly told an ACBRI debrief lunch shortly after that trip that it was his government’s job “to try and gather up the efforts of many and put them into one coherent pitch to make sure that China’s Central Economic Plan includes us”.
“It’s such a competitive market, so many parts of our region and our world are bidding and vying for an increased share of Chinese investment (and) influence over Chinese policy making,” Mr Andrews was quoted as saying.
Mr Robb told the same event China needed Australia to support Belt and Road “because we give credibility to the process”.
“We are needed and we have something very tangible to offer, but we have to build the initiative,” he reportedly said.
MORE NEWS
REASON FOR LOCKDOWN FINE SPIKE REVEALED
EX-COP ACCUSED OF BREAKING INTO WOMAN’S HOME