CCP members in foreign embassies ‘the reality in China’: Foreign Minister

Beijing hits back at concerns CCP members are employed in diplomatic missions, saying it’s ‘the reality in China’.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. Picture: AFP.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry has hit back against Australia’s concerns that CCP members have been employed in diplomatic missions in China, declaring that “this is the reality in China.”

The Australian reported on Wednesday that Australia’s embassy in Beijing is using a Chinese government agency to recruit senior staff into the consulate, with intelligence insiders warning this practice is the equivalent of paying China to “put spies into our consulates”.

However Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday that “states should follow basic norms governing international relations and respect each other’s system and national conditions.”

He argued that the CPC had striven for the “wellbeing of the Chinese people, the peace of the world and the progress of humanity” and argued the party was “open and above board in all its actions.”

“This is no other than hysterical slanders made by certain anti-China elements to tarnish the image of the CPC. Such (an) allegation is logically absurd and has no factual basis, nothing but another version of the ‘China threat theory’.

“China is a country that adheres to the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.

“The Communist Party of China is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, the Chinese people and the Chinese nation. Our 92 million CPC members are playing an exemplary role in various areas.”

The Australian’s investigation exposing the infiltration of Chinese Communist Party members across foreign embassies and companies has triggered a warning from the US State Department of a “wide array of malign activities that the Chinese Communist Party undertakes to influence our societies”.

The Australian revealed the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade used the Beijing Service Bureau for Diplomatic Missions — a Chinese government-controlled agency — as recently as last month to hire a head of mission senior adviser and interpreter, reporting to Australian ambassador Graham Fletcher.