Community group denies links to Beijing after roping in volunteers for election candidates

Australia Broadcast Center

01-05-2025

The head of a Chinese community group at the centre of a controversy surrounding Housing Minister Clare O'Neil and independent MP Monique Ryan has furiously denied that he is trying to help China's government influence the federal election, accusing the media of "slandering" him and intimidating Chinese Australians.
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) has confirmed that it has asked the Electoral Integrity Assurance Taskforce to investigate allegations about the actions of the Hubei Association, which had been working to help organise volunteers for the election campaigns of both Minister O'Neil and Dr Ryan.
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Earlier this week, The Age reported that the Hubei Association, a group purportedly linked to the Chinese government's United Front Work Department, organised volunteers for Dr Ryan, with video footage appearing to show those volunteers saying they had been instructed by the organisation to vote for her.
A day later, The Australian revealed the same association was also organising a group of 10 volunteers to help staff polling booths in Claire O'Neil's electorate — although the minister said she declined the offer of help.
Claire O'Neil says she knocked back an offer of volunteers from the Hubei Association.
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AAP Image: Mick Tsikas
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The reports raised concerns as the Hubei Association has previously been linked to the Chinese government's sprawling United Front Work Department, which is tasked with advocating for Beijing's interests overseas.
But the head of the Hubei Association, Ji Jianmin, in an extensive interview with the ABC, denied any links to Beijing and said neither he nor the organisation had any connection with the Chinese government.
"Not a penny of funds (comes) from an overseas power. All the money (is) coming from people living in Australia but originally from Hubei. You can check," he said.
"Australia is my home. I'm absolutely loyal to Australia."
Ji Jianmin denies any links or associations with the Chinese government.
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ABC News: Darryl Torpy
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Mr Ji rejected all the allegations and told the ABC that he'd had "nearly zero" contact with the Chinese Embassy, other than attending two cultural events over the past seven years.
"Personally, I don't care about politics … we just want to live a good life in Australia," he said.
"Ninety-nine per cent of my time in the past 29 years, I was in Australia."
Mr Ji said that he had nothing to hide and he'd cooperate with any inquiry.
"I'll be open to investigations and interviews. I'm open in sharing facts and truths to all friends," he said.
He said he only shared his view about Ms Ryan's effort to serve the Chinese community but did not pressure anyone to vote for her.
He also said he supported Dr Ryan because she had organised lectures for elderly Chinese people in Melbourne to help them understand how superannuation and policing works in Australia.
Mr Ji also told the ABC he never instructed the two volunteers shown in the video supporting Ms Ryan.
Steven Mao (left) and Jessica Yuan (right) were shown on a video helping Monique Ryan's campaign.
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ABC News: Darryl Torpy
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The two volunteers, Jessica Yuan and Steven Mao, told the ABC they were neither members of Mr Ji's association nor originally from Hubei province. They said they supported Ms Ryan because of her good reputation in the Chinese community.
"We've seen [what she did] and are willing to help her in re-election. People are all doing it voluntarily. No one was forced," Mr Ji told the ABC.
On Wednesday, Ms O'Neil firmly denied that her office requested volunteers from Hubei Association. She said the offer had come through an intermediary that her office had "politely declined".
That intermediary — ALP member and prominent Chinese Australian community member Chap Chow — also spoke with the ABC.
Originally from Malaysia, Mr Chow has repeatedly organised volunteers for political campaigns.
He described Ms O'Neil as a "friend" who he wanted to support.
He also said that he had previously helped recruit a few dozen campaign volunteers for her from an association of elderly Chinese Australians earlier this year.
Chap Chow said he wanted to to help Clare O'Neil.
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ABC News: Darryl Torpy
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Mr Chow partly contradicted Ms O'Neil's statement that her office made the decision to turn down the Hubei Association's offer of assistance on Tuesday.
He said of the minister's staffers approached him earlier this month and requested another 10 volunteers to help maintain stalls on election day — although at this point there was no discussion of the Hubei Association.
Mr Chow told the ABC he then reached out to Mr Ji for help because he was an old friend.
"I asked him if there could be others to volunteer, at a coffee catch up with him and others, about three weeks ago," Mr Chow said.
"He said, because we are friends … and I told him that we need to hurry up."
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Mr Chow also said he was the one who made the decision to withdraw the offer of volunteers after reading the report in The Age. He said he rang the minister's staffer, and they agreed the 10 volunteers shouldn't take part in her campaign.
"It was completely my decision. Because I know Australian politics very well, I took the initiative to call them," Mr Chow said.
"I think it shows the influence of the McCarthyism from the Cold War era. I've known Mr Ji for quite a long time, and I don't believe he has done anything inappropriate."
The ABC has approached Ms O'Neil's office for comment.
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A spokesperson for Dr Ryan told the Age earlier this week that she'd never met Mr Ji privately and that he'd "never lobbied her on any policy matters."
"Any contact between Monique and Mr Ji has been incidental and limited to public events attended by large numbers of people," they said.
Hubei Association is one of several dozen Chinese "hometown associations" in Australia that serve as networking hubs for people from various Chinese cities or provinces.
Researchers Alex Joske and Clive Hamilton listed it as a "United Front-linked business group" in a 2018 submission to a parliamentary inquiry.
But the submission also says that while "not all" the hometown organisations were part of the United Front, "the larger ones are certainly of interest to the Embassy and consulates".
"These have been a primary target for (United Front) work both for their access into the diaspora and as a venue to win hearts and minds to the party's standpoint," they said.
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One Australian government official told the ABC the status of groups like the Hubei Association was "difficult to pin down" because of the amorphous nature of the United Front and the way it operated.
The Coalition has said Ms O'Neil should have moved quickly to refer the matter to electoral authorities.
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Coalition campaign spokesman James Paterson declined to say whether he believed Chinese government linked groups were actively trying to influence the campaign.
"What I can say more broadly and without getting into these specific examples (is) if you were a foreign authoritarian government and you wanted to weaken or destabilise Australia, you would probably prefer that there be a hung parliament, that no party have a majority," he told Sky News.
This morning he said that Ms O'Neil had "not been completely up-front and honest about their relationship with these individuals and with these groups."
But Mr Ji said the Hubei Association was "not subject to the control and direction of any entity" and insisted he hadn't tried to influence the election or Australian politicians in any way.
"What is the evidence and facts that can show my connection with (the United Front) of China?" he said.
"In a democratic Australia, this kind of fact-less slander makes all of us Chinese in Australia feel terrified."