China’s Global Times goes on attack over Wang Liqiang spy story

China’s Global Times newspaper says defector Wang Liqiang’s ‘disgusting farce’ is fooling the West.

China has moved quickly to discredit Wang "William" Liqiang’s claims to have been involved in espionage operations for China in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia, during an interview with 60 minutes. Picture: 60 Minutes Australia

China’s Global Times newspaper has accused would be Chinese defector Wang Liqiang as being an “opportunistic liar” who had made “a fool” of Western media outlets backing his story of being a Chinese spy who had worked in Hong Kong and Taiwan.

The Communist Party owned Global Times said Wang, at 26, was far too young to hold the important role in the Chinese National Security Department and done the things he claimed including helping with the abduction 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,” the Global Times said in an editorial.

The paper argues that if he were working for the national security department in China Wang, at 26, would still only be a “novice” and would still be in a training or an intern program and would most likely not have a child.

READ MORE: ASIO ‘aware of plot to plant MP |

It said Wang would have been only 22 in 2015 when he said he had been involved in the “kidnapping” of several booksellers from Hong Kong as taking them to China.

In comments made to the Nine Network and Nine newspapers over the weekend, Wang said he had conducted spying operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia.

He said he had worked in Taiwan with a fake identity to influence local government elections in 2018 by infiltrating the local media and grass roots organisations.

Wang said he had also worked in Hong Kong with a company called China Innovation Investment which infiltrated the media and the city’s universities to counter the pro-democracy movement.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s report on #WangLiqiang is riddled with holes and got slapped with the truth. When it comes to reporting on China, Western public opinion is in a crazy era of pushing agenda regardless of facts or logic: Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin #HuSays @smh pic.twitter.com/TxRpnHdjJv

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) November 24, 2019

The company has put out a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange denying that it was involved in spying or that Wang had worked for the company.

It said it rejected allegations by Mr Wang that the company’s chairman and chief executive officer, Mr Xiang Xin was involved in intelligence and espionage activities.

It said these reports had “no factual basis” and were “completely false.”

“The company has already referred the matter to the company’s lawyer and will consider taking legal action,” it said.

‘Fraudster and a fugitive’

The comments come as Chinese police have moved to discredit Wang with a statement from the Shanghai public security bureau that Wang was a convicted fraudster and a fugitive.

In a statement issued over the weekend and posted on the website of the Chinese Embassy in Australia, the Shanghai police said Wang was found guilty of a car import fraud in 2016 and given a suspended prison sentence of 15 months by a court in Fujian province.

It alleged that Wang had defrauded his business partner of some $650,000 and was now a “fugitive” from justice in China after leaving for Hong Kong in April with a false Chinese passport and carrying a fake Hong Kong permanent resident ID.

The paper says the only explanation for Wang’s claims of being a spy working in Hong Kong and Taiwan was that he had made them up as part of his bid for political asylum in Australia.

“The disgusting farce has fooled many Western people,” the paper said.

Read the full ASIO statement here

The Global Times edited hit out at The Sydney Morning Herald, which published Wang’s claims on the weekend, describing it as an “anti China newspaper.”

Liberal backbencher Andrew Hastie, who chairs the parliament’s joint committee on intelligence and security, has been a vocal critic of the Chinese government, has called on the government to grant Wang’s request for asylum,

The Federal Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, has said the situation is in the hands of federal law enforcement and intelligence agencies.

The Global Times said it was “extremely rare” for anyone who worked with China’s national intelligence agency to have a child “as early at 26.”

It said it was “bizarre” that Wang was living in Australia with his wife and child and working for China’s intelligence agency, describing his claims as “hollow lies”.

“If Australia’s intelligence agency really believed Wang, it would have taken secret counter espionage actions instead of letting the media expose it,” the Global Times said.

“It seems more likely that Australia’s intelligence agency is aware of Mr Wang’s opportunistic purposes and does not think his story has an intelligence value,” it said.

“But Australia finds his story valuable in public opinion,” it said.

“Thus The Sydney Morning Herald, a media organisation that likes to smear China, has hyped Wang’s story into an explosive story.”

“Now they have all got what they wanted,” it said.

“Australia’s intelligence agency has shown its loyalty to the Western system, the Australian media has gained enough attention and Wang has more chance of being granted political asylum,” it said.

The paper said there had been an intensifying “atmosphere of hostility towards China” in Western political opinion.

“Western media reports on China now only care about stance and completely ignore facts and logic,” it said.