Australia’s wary war against Chinese interference

Australia has ambitious plans to curb China’s influence in its internal politics, modelled in part on US laws that ban foreign campaign donations and require the registration of lobbyists working for nation states.

But with China now Australia’s largest trading partner, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull may be biting the hand that feeds him and his 24.5 million fellow Australians.

Turnbull’s proposed changes include banning foreign donations to political organisations - and potentially environmental and other campaign groups - that have spent more than AUS$100,000 (£56,000) on campaigns in the past four years.

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The new laws, if approved, would also broaden treason and espionage definitions to include possessing or receiving sensitive information, rather than just transmitting it, Reuters reports.

The Herald Sun says the plans, announced this week, are “all about trying to curb the growing influence of the People’s Republic of China on Australian political life”.

But some detractors say it may really be about spreading “China-phobia”.

China has categorically rejected allegations of meddling in Australian politics, but experts say the proposals may “only heighten concerns about China’s influence and damage its already tarnished image in Australia”, The New York Times reports.

South China Sea controversy

Political donations are a major area of concern in the murky world of Australian politics. Unlike the UK, the US and most of Europe, political parties in Australia and New Zealand are allowed to accept contributions from foreign donors.

Between 2013 and 2015, businesses with Chinese connections donated in excess of AU$5.5m (£3.1m) to Australia’s main parties, “making them easily the largest source of foreign-linked donations”, says ABC News.

In October 2015, political party officials were briefed about two Chinese billionaire property developers - Chau Chak Wing and Huang Xiangmo – who, along with associates, made about AU$6.7m (£3.7m) in political donations, The Sydney Morning Herald reports.

The donations form the backdrop to a high-profile scandal that erupted last month involving Australian Labor Party frontbencher Senator Sam Dastyari.

In June 2016, Huang, one of the Chinese billionaires, reportedly withdrew a funding pledge to Labor after the party’s defence spokesman criticised China’s attempts to assert control over the South China Sea. A day later, Dastyari stood next to Huang at a Beijing press conference, during which the Australian senator’s comments were recorded, before being made public by Nine News this November.

The audio recording indicates that Dastyari supported China’s claim of sovereignty over the South China Sea and disavowed his own party’s foreign policy.

“The Chinese integrity of its borders is a matter for China,” Dastyari says in response to a question about the disputed area. He adds that, as a “friend”, Australia should know “where it is and isn’t our place to be involved”.

Separately, Dastyari also reportedly warned Huang about possible phone tapping, prompting Turnbull to question the senator’s allegiance to Australia and to call on Labor leader Bill Shorten to remove Dastyari from the opposition front bench.

Dastyari may now be referred to the country’s privileges committee to explain his relationship with Huang and whether he used his office to obtain benefits, according to ABC News. Shorten has dismissed the government outcry over Dastyari as a “stunt”.

For his part, Dastyari says he “never discussed” foreign policy with Huang and has not spoken to the billionaire since the phone-tapping conversation last year, The Courier-Mail reports.

China's influence in Australia

The hint of possible impropriety in Australia’s diplomatic relations with China has been enough to make headlines worldwide.

Turnbull’s reforms are just the latest attempt by the government to assuage growing discomfort about Chinese political and economic encroachment. But for all Turnbull’s fiery rhetoric, mediating China’s influence is a delicate balancing act.

As the nation’s biggest trading partner, “many Australians view good ties with China as critical to their future prosperity”, says The New York Times.

The Chinese response to Turnbull’s reform plans said as much. An embassy spokesperson told SBS News that “a sound and steady China-Australia relationship serves the common interests of both sides”.

“We urge the relevant people in Australia to discard prejudice and speak and act more in a way that will be conducive to boosting China-Australia relationship and deepening cooperation between them,” the spokesperson added.

The elephant in the room is that blocking donations from Chinese nationals might prove a pointless gesture, says the Herald Sun’s James Campbell. There are “plenty of ethnic Chinese with Australian passports prepared to donate money where the Chinese government wants it to go - either willingly or under coercion”, Campbell says, along with a stream of former politicians and public servants now “parroting Chinese propaganda” on Beijing’s payroll.

For this reason, registration of Australians working for a foreign power might prove to be the most crucial of the reforms proposed by Turnbull, although “whether it is a case of trying to close the stable door after the horse has bolted remains to be seen”.

What is more certain is that Beijing is unlikely to be deterred by the changes, says The Diplomat’s Ed Kennedy.

“Increasingly comfortable in asserting its claims on the world stage” since President Xi Jinping took power, China’s policy in the Asia-Pacific region - including Australia - is likely to remain “business as usual”, Kennedy concludes.