CHINA-AUSTRALIA: CHINA-AUSTRALIA DIPLOMATIC TENSIONS ESCALATE

The ABC has uncovered the identities of senior Chinese journalists and academics who have been drawn into the joint investigation by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO). They include the Australia bureau chief of China News Service, Tao Shelan; China Radio International's Sydney bureau chief Li Dayong; prominent Chinese scholar and media commentator Professor Chen Hong; and another leading Australian studies scholar, Li Jianjun. ABC said the AFP-ASIO Foreign Interference Task Force is investigating an alleged plot by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to infiltrate New South Wales Parliament through the office of Labour backbencher Shaoquett Moselmane, using his former staffer John Zhang. Professor Chen Hong and Mr Li Jianjun were reported to have built their careers in China with the help of grants from Australia's Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and private companies, as part of its Australian Studies in China soft power program. Both Professor Chen and Li Jianjun run Australian studies centres at Shanghai's East China Normal University and the Beijing Foreign Studies University. Li Jianjun has been doing a PhD at Western Sydney University, funded by a $60,000 Australia China Scholarship from BHP Billiton as part of the program. His student visa was also recently revoked.





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