Federal election 2025: Bennelong Liberal candidate Scott Yung volunteer group leader linked to CCP
Even as the Coalition attacks Labor on national security, it is seeking to win back Chinese voters after the diaspora deserted then-prime minister Scott Morrison en masse for Labor at the 2022 election following his government's pandemic-era feud with Beijing.
In Bennelong, a must-win seat for both sides, Liberal candidate Scott Yung has distanced himself from Morrison and emphasised his close ties to the Chinese community.
But screenshots obtained by this masthead show Yan Zehua, a former executive vice president of the Australian Association for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China, is described as the 'leader' of a chat group for volunteers supporting Liberal candidate Scott Yung.
The association is the only organisation that the Australian government has officially listed as being 'a foreign government related entity' under the foreign influence transparency scheme.
It was once headed by Huang Xiangmo, the controversial Chinese political donor who was exiled from Australia after security agencies expressed concerns.
Yan, who was pictured posing with Yung near an early voting centre late last month, declined to answer questions but said he was no longer vice president of the AAPPRC, which advocates for the democratic island of Taiwan to reunite with the rest of China under Communist control.
Liberal candidate Scott Yung meeting voters in Bennelong on Tuesday. Credit: Edwina Pickles
He would not say when he stood down from the position, which he is listed as holding as recently as 2023 on press releases of other organisations.
Yan is part of a group on the Chinese social media app called 'Scott Campaign Volunteer Group-2'.
The group's description says the 'leader of this group of volunteers is President Yan', noting he is the president of the Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce who 'fully supports Scott in this federal election'.
'Becoming a campaign volunteer not only helps Scott, but also helps like-minded friends improve themselves, enhance their awareness of political participation and sense of community belonging,' the group description states. 'Let us gather together to fulfil our mission, jointly support this meaningful campaign, and write our glorious chapter together!'
After Yung and the Liberal Party were contacted for comment, a campaign spokesman said: 'Yan is a local constituent who is campaigning against Labor and Jerome Laxale. Scott has no further relationship with Yan. Yan has sometimes supported Labor in the past.'
Yung is not a member of the WeChat group, which numbers 32 people, but his mother, Karen Yueqi, is. Courting a wary diaspora
After the Liberals' poor performance with the community in 2022, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton changed his rhetoric.
'I'm pro-China and the relationship that we have with them,' Dutton told 2GB in June last year. 'We need to make sure we strengthen the trading relationship [with China] because there are many businesses here who rely on it.'
The Liberal Party's post-election review in 2022 had found that on average, the two-party-preferred swing to Labor in the top 15 seats by Chinese ancestry was 6.6 per cent, compared to 3.7 per cent in other seats.
It concluded that, after Chinese voters marked down the Coalition government for criticising China over its handling of COVID-19 and diplomatic ties all but ceased, the Liberal party must make repairing its 'relationship with the Chinese community must … a priority during this term of Parliament'.
Shannon Ting is voting Greens. Credit: Edwina Pickles
Research published by the University of Technology China Relations Institute found that while the Coalition had 'revived more combative rhetoric' recently, the preceding three years had been marked by a 'more muted, bipartisan consensus' around China.
'This shift is aimed at reassuring the business community that the Coalition is cognisant and appreciative of trade ties, while also regaining the support of Australian-Chinese voters,' author Elena Collinson concluded.
Labor, for its part, downplayed concerns about Chinese navy ships circumnavigating Australia earlier this year and used measured language to address military tension, such as when a Chinese fighter jet deployed flares near an Australian air force plane in February.
Charlie Chork, a big admirer of John Howard, is voting Liberal. Credit: Edwina Pickles
Charlie Chork, a furniture store owner in Bennelong who emigrated from China 35 years ago, said he believed in the Liberal Party. Yung 'got experience from John Howard, and they did quite a good job,' Chork said. 'So that's why I just voted for Scott.'
The party is keen to capitalise on Howard's good reputation, with signs picturing Yung and the former prime minister together. 'I support Scott Yung. He is our future,' they read in English and Chinese.
Labor wants to make it hard for Bennelong Liberals to move on from Morrison. 'If Morrison lets you down, Dutton will be worse. Support Scott Yung. Support Dutton,' read Labor Party signs in Mandarin.
Shannon Ting, 25, said there was a 'very big gap between the older generation and the younger generation.'
Ting said she voted for the Greens because her primary concerns were climate change and Medicare.
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