AFP probe into Chinese spy Wang Liqiang’s interference claims

The AFP has opened an investi­gation into claims China sought to interfere in Australian politics.

Self-proclaimed Chinese spy Wang Liqiang. Picture: 60 Minutes Australia

The Australian Federal Police has opened a formal investi­gation into claims by self-­proclaimed Chinese spy Wang Liqiang that Chinese intelligence services sought to interfere in Australian politics.

The Australian understands the AFP will seek to interview Mr Wang, who is believed to be in hiding in Sydney following claims he conducted spying ­operations for China in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

The probe sets a potential test for the Coalition government’s suite of foreign interference and espionage laws, passed by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2018. “The AFP can confirm it is ­actively investigating the claims made by Mr Wang,’’ a spokesman said on Monday.

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Several sources said the death of a Melbourne businessman reportedly at the centre of a second alleged plot by Chinese intelligence services to insert an agent of influence into federal parliament was not treated as suspicious. Bo “Nick” Zhao was found dead in a Melbourne motel room in March, about a year after he was allegedly ­approached by a Chinese businessman who offered to front him $1m to run as a candidate in the federal seat of Chisholm, reportedly as an agent of influence of the Chinese Communist Party.

The former luxury car dealer is said to have approached ASIO, raising the possibility his death was connected to his disclosures.

Several sources said Victoria Police did not consider his death suspicious. The death is now the subject of a coronial inquest.

Scott Morrison said allegations that China attempted to plant a spy MP in Canberra were “deeply disturbing and troubling”. The Prime Minister said Australia was “not naive” to security threats and pointed to the “significant legal reform” on foreign interference his government had undertaken.

Revelations about the unrelated cases, in a series of Nine newspapers reports at the weekend, prompted a rare statement from ASIO director-general Mike Burgess and condemnation from the Chinese government, which ­accused Nine of falling for a hoax.

Mr Burgess said Nine’s 60 Minutes contained allegations ASIO took seriously. “Australians can be reassured ASIO was previously aware of matters that have been reported today, and has been actively investigating them,’’ he said.

Taiwanese authorities on Monday questioned Mr Wang’s alleged former boss, Xiang Xin, who Mr Wang claims recruited him to undertake espionage work in Taiwan and Hong Kong. In a statement, Mr Xiang’s company, China Innovation and Investment Limited, said he and his wife, Kung Ching, an “alternative director” at the company, had been stopped at Taipei airport by the Investigation Bureau of the Ministry of Justice, Taiwan’s equivalent of the FBI.

The bureau had requested co-operation “on the matter of news reports”, it said. “Mr Xiang and Mrs Kung have hired Taiwan lawyers to provide assistance,” the company said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

The statement said Mr Xiang and Mrs Kung “knew nothing” about issues in the news reports.

“Wang Liqiang was never an employee of the group,” it said. “The news reports were all fictitious and forged.” The Australian is not suggesting the allegations against Mr Xiang are true, only that they are being investigated.

Australian Strategic Policy ­Institute analyst Alex Joske said the statement was significant. “It indicates the Taiwanese government is taking Mr Wang’s alle­gations seriously,” he said.

The Chinese government claims Mr Wang was a convicted fraudster on the run from police over a series of financial scams.

The Communist Party-owned Global Times said Mr Wang, at 26, was too young to hold a key role in the Chinese ­National Security Department and to have done the things he claimed, including helping with abductions of booksellers in Hong Kong, trying to infiltrate the student movement in the city and influencing 2018 elections in Taiwan. “Chinese people would intuitively know that Wang sounds like an opportunistic liar, probably a swindler,” it said in an editorial.

Mr Morrison declined to ­address specifics about Mr Wang, who is claiming asylum in Australia. He said that decision would not necessarily require his claims to be proven.

In a statement at the weekend and posted on the website of the Chinese embassy in Australia, Shanghai police said Mr Wang was found guilty of a car-import fraud in 2016 and given a suspended jail term of 15 months by a court in Fujian province. It was ­alleged he had defrauded his business partner of $650,000 and was a “fugitive” from justice in China.

Additional reporting: Glenda Korporaal