Chinese interference the new norm for Australia, expert warns

News.com.au

2 days ago

China will only continue ramping up secretive efforts to advance its domestic and international agenda in Australia this century despite the Albanese government's attempts to normalise relations, a leading national security expert says.
The assessment comes a day after the Australian Federal Police charged a Chinese national with 'reckless foreign interference' in Canberra.
The woman, a permanent resident of Australia, is accused of covertly collecting information about the Canberra branch of a Buddhist association called Guan Yin Citta on behalf of China's Public Security Bureau.
The Guan Yin Citta association is banned in China.
Chris Taylor of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) told NewsWire it reflects 'the reality of espionage and foreign interference directed against Australia'.
'It's an actual, real thing – it exists,' Mr Taylor said.
Pointing to an espionage report released by Australia's domestic intelligence agency, he said there was 'a clear intensification of foreign intelligence interest in Australia'.
'Australia is paying a lot more attention to these issues than it may have in the past, not so much at the governmental level … but at a public level too,' Mr Taylor said.
'The messaging that's gone out from government about espionage, about foreign interference, over the last couple of years means that people in the community are more alive to it as a potential issue.'
The other factor is 'the big picture, strategic changes that are occurring'.
'The fact that international politics, international power, is concentrating in the Indo-Pacific, concentrating in East Asia, means that it's no surprise that Australia's moved to the front lines of that contest in a way that we really weren't a couple of decades ago.'
As for why Beijing would target a Buddhist group in the Australian capital, Mr Taylor said it was about keeping its diaspora in line abroad.
This is not new for China.
Analysts have long warned of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) influence suppressing free speech on university campuses, with students dobbing in fellow students who voice views that rub Beijing up the wrong way.
'For a lot of authoritarian regimes, they have an abiding interest in what they see as their nationals overseas, whether that's students, whether that's members of diaspora communities,' Mr Taylor said.
'So that kind of foreign intelligence activity ends up bounding that objective.
'It's actually not so much how we might imagine classical espionage directed towards the secrets of the Australian state.
'It's directed towards finding out what those communities are doing and trying to influence what those communities are doing, in a kind of focus on the interests of a regime, rather than the interests of a foreign country as such.'
'21st century for Australia'
Foreign interference was not among the issues Anthony Albanese broached with reporters on his lengthy state visit to China last month.
Instead, the Prime Minister opted for less touchy topics, such as cash-splashing Chinese holiday-makers pumping billions into Australia's thirsty tourism sector.
His hosts were also eager to spruik the potential gains of deepening economic ties amid global turmoil driven by Donald Trump's tariffs.
Xi Jinping talked of 'unswervingly' pursuing deeper Sino-Australian co-operation regardless of 'how the international landscape may evolve' when he met Mr Albanese.
The message was in line with Mr Albanese's own words as he met with business leaders and CCP top brass, championing Australia's trade and research offerings in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu.
While he often repeated his mantra of working with Beijing 'where we can' and disagreeing 'where we must', he made clear he saw China as key to Australia's economic future.
Foreign Minister Penny Wong on Tuesday was hesitant to say if news of the suspected Chinese agent in Canberra would harm that relationship, but vowed the Albanese government 'will safeguard our democracy'.
'Our democracy is about who we are,' Senator Wong told the ABC.
'And that means we will stand together against any foreign interference.
'We have strong frameworks in place.
'We will not tolerate collectively or as a government, Australians being harassed or surveilled. We will continue to safeguard the democracy.'
On relations with Beijing, she said 'dialogue matters'.
'Dialogue is important. Dialogue enables us to manage difference but it doesn't eliminate it,' Senator Wong said.
Echoing Australia's chief diplomat, Mr Taylor said it was just a reality that China would spy and meddle in Australia, no matter how 'incongruous' with what Beijing and Canberra say.
'We're being realistic that countries spy on each other, that China and Australia's interests security interests will differ,' he said.
'This is the 21st Century for Australia.
'It's dealing with these incongruities.
'It's dealing with living in a region that has become this increasingly contested space.'
He added that 'we shouldn't be we should any less aggrieved, but we should be probably less surprised that people are engaged in espionage against us.'