Daniel Andrews staffer Nancy Yang boasts of demo role on state TV

Nancy Yang told Chinese state TV that a protest against human rights in Canberra in 2008 had moved her to tears.

Nancy Yang with Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.

Daniel Andrews staffer Nancy Yang once told Chinese state television that the pilgrimage of thousands of Chinese students to Canberra in 2008 to participate in an at times violent counter-protest against human rights campaigners at the Olympic Torch relay had moved her to tears and was “reminiscent of the union of the three Red Armies”.

In a series of interviews for Chinese state-owned media outlets in 2008, Ms Yang spruiked her role as the founder and chair of United Front Work Department-linked organisation the Melbourne Chinese Youth United Association — a role she held for a decade until 2016.

The details of the interviews, which have been translated from Mandarin, come after The Australian revealed on Tuesday that Ms Yang had in March posted a series of articles and videos on social media suggesting coronavirus was created by the US and transported to China by the US army.

Mr Andrews has been forced to defend Ms Yang — who has worked as an electorate officer for Andrews government MPs since 2013 — as he faces criticism over his decision to sign up to China’s Belt and Road Initiative despite opposition from the federal government and the Department of Foreign ­Affairs and Trade.

In her role as MCYUA chair and a visa officer at Melbourne’s Chinese consulate in April 2008, Ms Yang helped to bus 500 students to Canberra from Melbourne to join hundreds more from elsewhere in Australia for a show of nationalistic strength ahead of the Beijing Olympics.

Canberra-based pro-Tibet demonstrators, who were vastly outnumbered by the Chinese nationalists, reported being intimidated, threatened and physically attacked, including with Chinese flags.

Ms Yang, who oversaw the importation of thousands of flags, told state media that as she and her fellow nationalists gathered in Canberra, they were “so moved that tears came out”.’

There was “really a feeling of the Red Army being a teacher”, Ms Yang told China Central TV, in reference to the union of the three Red Armies.

The union is an event frequently glorified in Chinese Communist propaganda, that took place at the end of the Long March — a military retreat which had seen approximately 100,000 soldiers reduced to 7,000 due to starvation, desertion, sickness and military combat and secured Mao Zedong’s ascension as dictator and the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.

Ms Yang said the pro-China supporters would yell slogans to drown out the pro-Tibet activists, saying: “In Canberra, when there were different voices, the voice of ‘One China!’ immediately overwhelmed them.”

In response to media coverage of China's human rights record, Ms Yang said: “The lens of Western media cannot erase the waving of our national flag!”

A spokeswoman for Mr Andrews did not give direct answers to a series of detailed questions, but said his office had been “very clear” in standing by Ms Yang.

“We value the outstanding contribution Nancy makes every day for her local community,” the spokeswoman said.

Ms Yang did not respond to a request for comment.

A group of Liberal, National and Liberal Democrat state MPs on Thursday formed Parliamentary Friends of Hong Kong, as Hong Kong’s legislature prepared to pass a bill criminalising mockery of China’s national anthem and pro-democracy demonstrators marked the 31st anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

None of the 73 Labor MPs in Victorian parliament opted to join the group.