A Victoria state County Court jury convicted Melbourne businessman and local community leader Di Sanh Duong on a charge of preparing for or planning an act of foreign interference.
Ethnic Chinese is first person charged under Australia’s espionage act
Ethnic Chinese is first person charged under Australia’s espionage act
Duong, 68, had pleaded not guilty. He was released on bail after his conviction and will return to court in February to be sentenced. He faces a potential 10-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors had argued that Duong, a former member of the Liberal Party, planned to gain political influence in 2020 by cultivating a relationship with the then-government minister Alan Tudge on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party.
Duong did so by arranging for Tudge to receive a 37,450 Australian dollars (then equivalent to US$25,800) in a novelty check donation raised by community organizations for a Melbourne hospital.
Prosecutor Patrick Doyle told the jury the Chinese Communist Party would have seen Duong as an “ideal target” to work as its agent.
“A main goal of this system is to win over friends for the Chinese Communist Party, it involves generating sympathy for the party and its policies,” Doyle told the jury.
Doyle said Duong told an associate he was building a relationship with Tudge, who “will be the prime minister in the future” and would become a “supporter/patron for us.”
Duong’s lawyer Peter Chadwick said the donation was a genuine attempt to help frontline health workers during the pandemic and combat anti-China sentiment.
“It’s against this backdrop that Mr. Duong and other ethnic Chinese members of our community decided that they wanted to do something to change these unfair perceptions,” Chadwick said.
Under the law, a foreign interference activity undermines Australia’s national interests and is secretly carried out on behalf of a foreign government.
“Foreign interference remains a significant national security priority for the AFP,” the police statement said.
When the law was introduced to parliament, then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull cited allegations of Chinese government interference in Australian politics and universities, sparking an angry response from Beijing.