Silent Invasion author Clive Hamilton says Tasmania on China’s radar as questions raised about Hobart City Council candidate’s possible party links

A LEADING academic has warned the Chinese Government has Tasmania in its sights as allegations emerge of a Hobart City Council candidate’s links with the Chinese Communist Party — a claim the potential alderman has strongly denied.

Hobart City Council candidate Yongbei Tang, photographed at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress in Beijing last year. PICTURE: Supplied.

A LEADING academic has warned the Chinese Government has Tasmania in its sights as allegations emerge of a Hobart City Council candidate’s links with the Chinese Communist Party — a claim the potential alderman has strongly denied.

Silent Invasion author Clive Hamilton raised questions about China’s influence in the state after the Mercury obtained a photograph of Chinese News Tasmania editor and HCC candidate Yongbei Tang at the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress in Beijing last year.

Ms Tang said she attended the congress — an annual meeting of people considered influential and politically reliable who provide advice to the Chinese Communist Party — as a journalist.

She was not backed by the Chinese Government, was not a member of the Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese Government had never told her what to write, she said.

But Ms Tang said she would never write anything critical of the Chinese Communist Party.

She is on the board of a Chinese government-linked media organisation that requires members not to damage China’s reputation or security, though Ms Tang said she had not been told she held the position. “I’m not a critical person, I never criticise,” Ms Tang said.

She was also on the board of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China between October 2017 and December last year.

The Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China is a national body China researchers confirmed was the primary United Front group in Australia. The aim of United Front is to influence the choices, directions and loyalties of its targets by combating negative perceptions and promoting favourable perceptions of Chinese Communist Party rule.

Ms Tang said she joined the board because she was friends with board chairman Xin De Wang but quit because she realised it “caused a lot of trouble” and was a lot of work.

Yongbei Tang is running for a seat on Hobart City Council. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

Professor Hamilton emphasised most Chinese-heritage people in Tasmania were loyal Australians with no involvment in Beijing’s influence activities but said the state should be conscious of potential issues.

“In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party has put Tasmania firmly on its radar,” Prof Hamilton said.

“Its influence operations are aimed mainly at co-opting the state’s political leaders, and with great success. Despite all of the warnings, Tasmania’s leaders appear oblivious, but naivety is no longer an excuse.”

The State Government has repeatedly lashed out at people, including the Greens, who are critical of the state’s relationship with the Chinese Government.

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Defence thinktank the Australian Strategic Policy Institute is among groups to have raised concerns after Premier Will Hodgman said there was nothing to fear about China’s interest in the state. Mr Hodgman on Sunday said he had been briefed by national security agencies ahead of his recent two-week Asian trade mission, which included a visit to China.

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Ms Tang, an Australian citizen who has lived in Tasmania for 20 years, has been criticised for encouraging Chinese students to join the Hobart City Council’s general manager’s roll so they could vote for her, which is allowed under rules.

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WeChat transcripts translated for the Mercury show Ms Tang last month set up a stall at the University of Tasmania to help Chinese students enrol to vote and offered to deliver their enrolment forms for them.

Writing in Tasweekend this month, journalist Charles Wooley quoted HCC Alderman and mayoral candidate Marti Zucco as saying Chinese students feared ramifications if they did not vote for Ms Tang.

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Ms Tang is the Chinese Consulate in Melbourne’s Tasmanian Consular Chinese Citizen Protection Liaison Officer.

Ms Tang, the Multicultural Council of Tasmania treasurer, yesterday emphasised her love for Australia and Australian values.

“I am so proud of being a general citizen and so appreciating that my children grew up here,” Ms Tang said.