Chinese Communist Party by far 'most active' in trying to influence Australian politics covertly: Report

Australian intelligence has identified about 500 recent incidents of covert foreign agents interfering in the country's domestic politics with officials saying that the Chinese Community Party (CCP) is by far the "most active" in trying to influence politicians and politics.

In an interview for the new book Red Zone, by correspondent Peter Hartcher, a senior intelligence official said there were about 500 known or suspected cases of foreign interference and espionage in Australia in late 2020, Sydney Morning Herald reported.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the qualifiers were "known or suspected". Not all suspected cases were verified, and it was possible that there were undetected cases.

"Several countries are behind such activity but officials have said that the Chinese Communist Party is by far the most active in trying to influence Australian politicians and political processes covertly," the report read.

The previous head of Australian spy agency ASIO, Duncan Lewis, had said in 2017 that the agency was being overwhelmed by foreign interference and espionage and in 2018 that it was happening at unprecedented levels.

ASIO's last public update said it had dealt with more than 30 cases in 2020. Only a handful was publicly visible.

The current head of ASIO, Mike Burgess, said covert agents of foreign powers made up just a tiny minority of diaspora communities.

"It is important to understand that ASIO works with - not against - diaspora communities as we seek to help and protect them," he said in an interview for the book.

"I am always at pains to distinguish between diaspora communities on the one hand and the foreign governments and their intelligence services that are conducting foreign interference on the other," he added.

It is noteworthy that the previous government of Malcolm Turnbull toughened laws against both espionage and interference in 2018 with full support from the Labor opposition, and the Morrison government allocated funding for a joint ASIO-Australian Federal Police taskforce to enforce the laws.

The federal budget this month allocated funds for a 15 per cent increase in ASIO staff numbers, up by 279 people to 2,152.

Australia's new foreign interference and espionage laws were denounced by Beijing, with the Chinese government demanding they be repealed.

Tensions between China and Australia have escalated over a slew of issues which have now led to a point where the Chinese state-media threatened ballistic missile strikes if Canberra gets involved in a potential military conflict over Taiwan.

Relations started to fray in 2018 when Australia banned Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies from building its 5G network, the first Western country to do so.

Since then, relations have deteriorated and are now perceived to be at their lowest point following Canberra's criticisms of how Beijing handled the coronavirus pandemic.

Canberra has also been locked in an ongoing trade war with Beijing for several months as China has slapped sanctions on various Australian products.

China, early this month, had suspended all activities under the China-Australia Strategic Economic Dialogue, a forum launched in 2014 and last convened in 2017.

This decision came a few weeks after Australia scrapped the controversial Belt and Road (BRI) agreement with China.

( With inputs from ANI )

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