is Australia being infiltrated

at all levels of society and government

by a highly organized network of Chinese spies?

Or is Australia just being racist?

Welcome back to China Uncensored.

I'm Chris Chappell.

Something's rotten in the state of Australia.

And I'm not talking about Vegemite.

I'm talking about racism.

The Chinese Embassy has accused

the Australian media and government of having,

“a Cold War mentality,”

“racial prejudice,”

and “anti-China hysteria and paranoia.”

Why?

Well, let's listen to this report

from Australian media in June.

“A joint investigation by a team of journalists

from Four Corners and Fairfax Media

has exposed a concerted campaign

by the Chinese government and its proxies

to infiltrate the Australian political process

to promote its own interests.”

I'm not seeing any racism here so far.

Okay, but Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

just announced new laws targeting Chinese Australians.

And it's got China's Foreign Ministry seething.

“We were shocked at what Turnbull had said.

Such comments pander to certain

irresponsible reports in Australian media,

they are full of prejudice against China.”

Yeah, just listen to what Turnbull said

at the beginning of the month.

“I want to be very clear,

we have focused on the activities

of foreign states and their agents in Australia,

and not the loyalties of Australians

who happen to be from another country.”

Wait, so he's specifically stating

that the issue is not about questioning

the loyalties of Chinese Australians.

I'm not seeing the racism there, either.

Could the Chinese Communist Party be,

I don't know,

using racism to distract everyone

from the actual facts?

But would they really do such a thing?

After all,

China's state-run People's Daily

said that the Australian government should

“uphold the principle of truth from facts.”

Well, let's take a look at the facts.

This December marks 45 years

of bilateral relations between

the People's Republic of China and Australia.

According to the New York Times,

“China has long treated Australia

as a laboratory for soft power experiments,

flexing its economic muscle,

sending students to study at its universities

and creating organizations with close ties

to the Communist Party.”

That was also the gist of the Fairfax Media

and Four Corners reports earlier this year.

However, what China failed to realize

is that by sending its citizens to study in Australia,

they'd end up with—

let's be honest here—

the most confusing English accent.

I mean, “Chocco”?

“Bickie”?

“Macca's”?

I rest my case.

Anyway, in response to media reports exposing

the CCP's attempts to influence Australia,

the Turnbull government is proposing laws

banning foreign campaign donations,

and requiring transparent registration of foreign agents.

The laws are actually modeled after

similar laws in the United States.

They make it illegal

to support foreign intelligence agencies,

leak information,

and steal trade secrets,

with offenders facing 15-20 years in prison.

Notice that none of that specifically targets China.

It's just that,

considering which foreign powers

are actively trying to infiltrate Australia,

China will be most affected by the new laws.

Take a specific case for example:

Australian Parliament Member Sam Dastyari —

whose face answers the question

“What if Mr. Bean ate too many Tim Tams,

ran for office,

then resigned in disgrace?”

Media are now calling Sam Dastyari

“Shanghai Sam”—

but there's nothing funny about that.

Because the media reports I just mentioned

uncovered thousands of dollars worth of

campaign contributions made to Dastyari

by Huang Xiangmo,

a Chinese billionaire with questionable ties

to the Chinese regime.

Now while that all was very sketchy,

under Australia's old campaign contribution laws,

“sketchy” was perfectly legal.

In fact, Huang Xiangmo gave

almost 2.7 million dollars

to the three biggest Australian political parties

over the course of four years.

At least a million of that was raised

by Dastyari for his Australian Labor Party.

But earlier this month,

it came out that

Huang Xiangmo and Dastyari's relationship

went deeper than anyone expected.

At a press conference with Chinese media in 2016,

Dastyari contradicted his own party's stance

on the South China Sea.

No one knew exactly what he said,

just that Chinese media started reporting

that he was saying Australia

should butt out of the South China Sea conflict—

which was the opposite of what the Labor Party

had just said the day before.

The Labor Party was saying the Chinese regime

should abide by a recent ruling by the Hague

rejecting China's claim to a big portion

of the South China Sea.

After some controversy,

Dastyari said he took “a foreign policy question

he shouldn't have taken,

mumbled it and answered it incorrectly."

But you know, he only mumbled some answer,

that's not really all that bad, right?

It's just in keeping with his Mr. Bean persona.

And so he began to build up his career again.

Except a recording of that conference just came out.

And it sure doesn't sound like mumbling.

“The Chinese integrity of its borders

is a matter for China,

and the role that Australia

should be playing as a friend is to know,

that with the several thousand years of history,

thousands of years of history,

where it is and isn't our place to be involved.”

You know, thousands of years of history!

China's borders are China's business!

Australia should just butt out.

Why, that sounds just like

the official Communist Party line!

And we now know that a few weeks

after Dastyari “mumbled” that response,

he also kind of accidentally stumbled his way

to Huang Xiangmo's mansion and alerted him that

“his phone was probably being tapped

by security agencies.”

As in, “Hey the Australian authorities are watching you.

You might want to use a burner phone

for all your illegal activities.

Just saying.

As a friend.”

What a lovable klutz.

Just like Mr. Bean.

Dastyari is also accused of trying to

pressure another member of his own party

to cancel a meeting with a pro-democracy activist

while she was in Hong Kong.

And now that all this has come out

and there are calls for Dastyari

to resign from Parliament,

he is once again parroting

the Communist Party line.

But this time, about racism.

“I expect Turnbull and the Liberals to smear me,

but for he and his colleagues to suggest

that I am not a true or loyal Australian

is incredibly hurtful—

and hurtful to all overseas-born Australians.”

Dastyari is referring to the fact

that he was born in Iran,

which is definitely relevant to the fact

that he's accused of selling out to China.

But anyway, Shanghai Sam is resigning now,

saying he won't return to parliament in 2018.

Unfortunately, he isn't one of a kind.

Australia's security agency ASIO

just “identified 10 state and local political candidates

linked to Chinese intelligence agencies.”

ASIO didn't name names,

but did indicate that at least one of the people

was elected and is still in office.

He or she is probably getting their

“I was just mumbling” defense ready.

Anyway, Australia is like the canary in the coal mine.

Other countries need to take a look

at what's happening because it's not just Australia.

In the coming months,

there will be a lot more coming out

about the Chinese Communist Party's

attempts to influence Western countries.

And it seems the US is taking notice.

But there's something that Western media

and governments should be careful about.

After these stories broke in the Australian media,

there have been legitimate instances of racism

and harassment of Chinese people in Australia.

And that's a shame.

Not just because racism is bad.

Which it is.

But expressing prejudice against 1.2 million

Chinese Australians also plays

right into the Chinese Communist Party's hands.

Let's not forget that the first victims of the CCP's

infiltration into foreign countries

are the Chinese people living in those countries.

They are the first ones to be infiltrated and influenced,

not to mention silenced, by the Party.

The CCP's United Front Work Department

has a special division dedicated to targeting

overseas Chinese to, uh,

“maintain” their loyalty.

And then when the CCP's actions

cause a backlash toward normal Chinese Australians,

the Chinese regime changes tactics,

trying to act like it's the defender of overseas Chinese,

heroically protecting them

from a racist Australian government and media.

In this case,

I think the Australian government and media

have been for the most part very careful

to not be racist against Chinese Australians.

Sure, that hasn't stopped the CCP

from making their accusations.

But, like the People's Daily said,

we can all judge the “truth from facts.”

So what do you think about Australia's

new foreign interference laws?

And what do you think about the Chinese regime's

claims of racism?

Leave your comments below.

Thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored.

Once again I'm your host Chris Chappell,

see you next time.

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