Embattled Liberal candidate for Bennelong Scott Yung under fire for alleged Beijing connections

7NEWS

24-04-2025

The Liberal candidate for Bennelong opened a business dinner backed by an 'overseas Chinese liaison station' — which was part of a global network bankrolled by the Chinese government and previously led by a rising figure credited for supporting Beijing's territorial claim over Taiwan.
7NEWS.com.au can reveal Liberal candidate Scott Yung addressed the opening ceremony of the 2024 Asian Business Leaders Charity Gala as a representative of federal opposition leader Peter Dutton.
The November event was co-backed by the Anhui Association of Sydney — an organisation that, according to budget documents retrieved by 7NEWS.com.au, has received thousands of dollars in Chinese government funding.
Chinese officials selected it to operate as an 'overseas Chinese liaison station' in 2016 on the principle of 'Four Emphases and Four Benefits' — including 'leveraging overseas Chinese resources to serve Anhui's 13th Five-Year Plan's international cooperation projects.'
The liaison stations were 'fully leveraging the resource advantages of overseas Chinese in talent, technology, and capital' and would 'strive to closely integrate overseas Chinese affairs with the province's economic and social development,' the director of the Anhui Provincial Foreign Affairs and Overseas Chinese Affairs Office said a month later.
Budget documents from Anhui's Foreign Affairs Office show the Anhui Association of Sydney was one of 14 overseas Chinese groups each awarded more than $6000 in a second round of 'overseas Chinese liaison station' selections.
'The total annual dedicated fund will amount to RMB 1,000,000,' the provincial government said of its program, equivalent to over $200,000.
The Anhui Association of Sydney has received Chinese Communist Party united front delegations as recently as August 2023 when the vice chairman of the Anhui Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese visited.
'United Front Work is an important magic weapon for the victory of the party's cause,' Chinese president Xi Jinping said in 2017.
7NEWS does not suggest that the Anhui Association of Sydney, its former chairman, or any other of its associates have committed foreign interference or otherwise acted illegally.
It is legal in Australia to act on behalf of a foreign government if those actions are not covert, deceptive, threatening to cause harm or demanding with menace.
The news that Yung opened the dinner backed by the association designated as an 'overseas Chinese liaison station' comes three weeks after Liberal campaign spokesperson and Shadow Home Affairs Minister James Paterson said the prime minister had 'all sort [sic] of serious questions' to answer after The Australian reported that he dined with the vice-president of a United Front group at a Labor fundraiser.
'Xi Jinping has described United Front Work Department as China's magic weapon… Now, people might have got away with making mistakes like this five or even 10 years ago, in a more innocent or naive time, but we have learnt a lot since then,' Senator Paterson told Sky News at the time.
In 2018, the Beijing Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department devoted an entire webpage to the man who formerly chaired the Anhui Association of Sydney, crediting him for his joint 'significant contributions' including to 'safeguarding China's peaceful reunification' — a reference to Beijing's territorial claim over Taiwan.
In January 2024, he was reportedly invited as an overseas delegate to the Anhui Provincial People's Political Consultative Conference — the top Chinese Communist Party advisory body to the province's party leadership.
He has also reportedly served on the overseas committee of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, which is directly overseen by the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department.
The gala night at which Yung spoke, held at the Hilton Sydney, reportedly raised $8000 for Cancer Council NSW.
'The [Opposition] Leader's office was aware of Mr Yung's participation in this Chinese community event, which brought together a large number of local business and community groups to raise funds for the Cancer Council NSW,' a spokesperson for the Liberal Party said.
'Attendance at this event had nothing to do with any policy issues, and Scott's attendance was not an expression of anything other than support for local community organisations and the fight against cancer.
'Scott supports Australia's longstanding and bipartisan one-China policy and opposes any unilateral changes to the status quo in relation to Taiwan.'
7NEWS sought comment from the Anhui Association of Sydney.