Communist Party appoints ‘influence agent’ Huang Xiangmo to top Hong Kong post

Australia’s most prominent alleged agent of Chinese influence, Huang Xiangmo, has been vetted by the Chinese government to sit on a powerful Hong Kong political committee as part of Beijing’s ongoing suppression of the territory’s democracy movement.

Mr Huang’s election to the Hong Kong election committee last month is the strongest indication yet of his unwavering commitment to the Chinese Communist Party and its aims of asserting influence and control.

Billionaire Huang Xiangmo at his Sydney mansion in 2018.Credit: James Brickwood

It also gives a rare indication of the rewards Beijing is prepared to hand out to figures who have been labelled agents of influence and expelled by other nations.

Mr Huang, who donated at least $2.7 million to the Labor and Coalition parties prior to the cancellation of his Australian visa in 2019, previously sought to dismiss claims he was a Chinese Communist Party agent of influence. In an interview with the Party newspaper Global Times, he called Australia a “giant baby” and said he had not violated its laws, adding he had been punished for “groundless accusations”.

The Australian Tax Office sued Mr Huang in 2019 for $81.2 million in tax and $59.3 million in interest and penalties. He was also an $800 million-a-year Crown casino high roller.

Mr Huang was the subject of an adverse ASIO security assessment in late 2018 after years of allegations that he was seeking to covertly influence Australia’s political system by building close ties with Coalition and Labor MPs.

Riot police charge at demonstrators in Hong Kong last year.Credit: Bloomberg

The 1500 members of the Hong Kong election committee have all been vetted by the Chinese government’s security agencies and assessed by critics as pro-Beijing. The body will help select almost half the Hong Kong legislature in 2022, as well as the territory’s new leader, as part of Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on the former British colony’s political system.

In March, Foreign Minister Marise Payne joined human rights groups and Western political leaders to condemn the changes as an attack on “rights and freedoms and the high degree of autonomy guaranteed by China to Hong Kong until 2047 under the Sino-British Joint Declaration”.

Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader Carrie Lam has dismissed such criticism, justifying the prohibition on “non patriots” from contesting the committee election because they would undermine the territory.

When recently quizzed on why the committee was stacked with pro-Beijing figures, Ms Lam said: “There was only one objective behind the approved electoral system – to ensure patriots administer Hong Kong.”

Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam. Credit: Bloomberg

Chinese Communist Party controlled news outlets revealed Mr Huang promoted himself as a candidate on the Hong Kong election committee who would “fully implement the principle of ‘patriots ruling Hong Kong’.”

Of the 1500 people elected to the Hong Kong election committee, only one has been deemed by human rights groups as not closely aligned the Chinese Communist Party. To assert control over the committee’s election, the Chinese government also slashed the number of eligible voters by 97 per cent, meaning only 7891 Hong Kongers will be able to cast votes for candidates such as Mr Huang.

While he was in Australia, Mr Huang dismissed suggestions he had any interest in influencing local politics on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.

“Different to other political donors, Chinese are friendly to politicians but indifferent to politics,” Mr Huang wrote in a 2016 opinion piece published by a news outlet controlled by the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda arm. “Chinese donors still need to learn from others about how to participate in politics.”

In addition to being accused by ASIO and the federal government of alleged foreign interference activities, Mr Huang was last year implicated in a NSW ICAC corruption scandal. It examined allegations that in 2015, the billionaire property developer sought to funnel secret donations to the NSW ALP.

Mr Huang rose to prominence through his prolific political fundraising and networking, his funding of former foreign minister Bob Carr’s Sydney think tank, the Australia-China Relations Institute, and his role as chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s top influence group in Australia.

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald previously revealed how Mr Huang invited now former Senator Sam Dastyari to a Chinese-language media press conference in which Mr Dastyari contradicted his party’s policy on the South China Sea. That, along with the revelation Mr Dastyari had tipped off Mr Huang that his phone was being tapped by spy agencies, led to Mr Dastyari’s political downfall.

But Mr Huang’s connections also crossed the political divide.

As former trade minister Andrew Robb was negotiating the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement, Mr Huang donated $100,000 to his electorate fund, met with him several times and later told associates he had provided Mr Robb with informal advice about the trade deal.

At various times, Mr Huang had a direct line to advisers or fundraisers for prime minister Tony Abbott and Liberal minister David Coleman.

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