Coronavirus: Gatecrashing consul was one of China’s top cyber spies

The Chinese official Andrew Forrest helped to gatecrash Greg Hunt’s press conference was a former top cyber official for Beijing.

Victoria and Tasmania Consul-General of China Long Zhou. Picture; AAP.

The Chinese official Andrew Forrest helped to gatecrash Health Minister Greg Hunt’s press conference was a former top cyber official for Beijing as the Chinese Communist Party waged a hacking war against Western businesses and governments.

China’s Victorian consul-general, Long Zhou, was a co-ordinator of cyber affairs at China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he developed the country’s cyberspace “co-operation” policy, putting a positive spin on Beijing’s global digital incursions.

While China’s state-sponsored cyber spying has sparked diplomatic protests across the world, the policy argued that countries must oppose cyber “hostility and aggression, prevent arms races and conflicts in cyberspace, and settle disputes through peaceful means”.

Mr Long’s former role has compounded Mr Forrest’s offence in the eyes of the government, with the fallout set to be long-lasting.

“Twiggy will find the door to Canberra is closed,” a senior source told The Australian, after he helped the Chinese diplomat ambush Mr Hunt.

The West Australian miner’s ties to the government were immediately­ put on ice, with Mr Hunt cancelling another scheduled joint press conference at a Melbourne children’s cancer centre.

It’s understood the Health Minister feared a media circus at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, with questions about China likely to overshadow a $67m investment in children’s cancer treatment.

“The announcement was issued by media release so as not to distract focus from the importance of this lifesaving ­program for children,” Mr Hunt’s spokesman said.

The Australian has also learned Mr Forrest only told Mr Hunt he’d invited Mr Long to speak at Wednesday’s press conference when a television camera was already trained on the trio at Melbourne’s Treasury Place commonwealth offices. Mr Hunt had assumed Mr Long was one of Mr Forrest’s ­business contacts, who had helped him obtain the coronavirus test kits for Australia.

Mr Forrest was responsible for a similar scenario four weeks ago, helping China’s West Australian consul-general, Dong Zhihua, get airtime at a press conference with state Health Minister Roger Cook to announce the arrival of a $160m shipment of personal protective equipment that he helped acquire.

Like Mr Hunt, Mr Cook found out he would share the podium with a Chinese government repre­sentative moments before the press conference got under way.

Days later, Mr Forrest said the pandemic gave him no reason to rethink his business relationship with China. “Yeah, and I see pandemics coming out of Europe mate, I can see them coming out of Africa. This one came out of China. You might even cop one coming out of Australia one day,” he told Perth radio station 6PR.

“The pandemic starts somewhere. It is how you react to them and I really say to any leader mucking around blaming people, taking up people’s precious airtime throwing blame, throwing criticism and not getting on with the job of fixing it, well, you are defining­ yourself as a pretty crap leader.”

Amid growing anger, details have emerged of Mr Forrest’s suppor­t to obtain the coronavirus testing kits. While the WA miner’s Minderoo Foundation acted as a “bridge” to Chinese biotech company BGI group, it will not be left significantly out of pocket.

The government was “delight­ed”, Mr Hunt said on Wednesday, to have secured the test kits amid intense global competition. It was also appreciative of Mr Forrest’s role, saying his business contacts had sealed the deal for Australia.

But Mr Forrest will be compensated on a “cost-recovery basis” for all expenses he incurs.

A cross-government taskforce has been working since February on ensuring the nation has the supplies and personal protection equipment it needs to get through the crisis. It is assessing the efficacy and quality of all purchases­, rejecting a raft of proposals by “charlatans” claiming to be selling quality products.

Amid massive global demand, standard commonwealth procurement rules requiring multiple quotes and runoffs between competing bidders have been thrown out the window. The government can’t avoid sole-sourcing major purchases and will take whatever help it can get to obtain medical supplies amid surging global demand­, sources said.

Earlier this week, on the front page of the Australian Financial Review, Chinese ambassador Cheng Jingye threatened a boycott of Australian exports over Scott Morrison’s call for an independent inquiry into the coronavirus pandemi­c.

Mr Cheng also revealed details of a private conversation with the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Frances­ Adamson, in a serious breach of diplomatic convention.

The embassy claimed he had only released details of Ms Adamson’s call because of a “leak” from Australian officials.

“The embassy of China doesn’t play petty tricks, this is not our trad­ition. But if others do, we have to reciprocate,” a spokesman said.

Mr Forrest defended his intervention on Thursday in a morning television media blitz, branding accusations that he embarrassed Mr Hunt “a scream” and “the biggest non-story ever”. “I have to say, what a joke,” he told Nine’s Today show, after an earlier appearance on Seven’s Sunrise.

Mr Forrest, who declined to speak to The Australian on Thursday, denied in television appearances that he was acting against Australia’s interests by giving the podium to a Chinese government official. He said his efforts securing PPE and millions of testing kits showed “I’m the most Australian person I know.”

But there is a growing consensus in Canberra that he overstepped the mark by inserting himself into the strained relationship between Canberra and Beijing during a pandemic that began in China, and which was initially covered up by the Chinese Communist Party.

Senior ministers, more unified than ever on China policy, are in no mood for amateur diplomacy by a WA rich-lister whose fortune was built on iron ore sales to fuel Chinese growth.

Mr Hunt, who prevented a complete hijacking of his press conference by shutting down media questions to Mr Long, has since been bombarded with messages of support from colleagues.

It’s understood he was widely praised by cabinet colleagues for his handling of the incident, including by the Prime Minister, Josh Frydenberg and Foreign Minister Marise Payne.

Ministers said he had avoided a diplomatic misstep by holding the government’s line while avoiding any statements that could be used to further inflame tensions.