A Melbourne-based Asian community leader with links to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been found guilty in a Victorian Court of “preparing for or planning foreign interference.” The offence carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.
Businessman Di Sanh “Sunny” Duong, who also goes by the Chinese name of Yang Yisheng, 68, faced a month-long jury trial in Melbourne’s County Court.
His lawyer, in their defence, claimed that Mr. Duong was trying to raise money for healthcare workers and to combat anti-Chinese sentiment during the COVID-19 outbreak, and that this was part of his “regular charity work.”
The case was centred on a $37,450 (US$26,000) donation, raised through his community group, the Oceania Federation of Chinese Associations, to the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Charges were laid in 2020, after a year-long investigation by the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) and the Australian Federal Police.
Mr. Duong, who was born in Vietnam and became an Australian citizen in 1983, is the first person to be charged with a foreign interference offence since the federal parliament passed wide-ranging foreign interference laws in 2018.
Agent of the United Front Work Department
Crown prosecutor Patrick Doyle KC told the jury that Mr. Duong was recruited as an agent by the United Front Work Department of the CCP and that the donation was made with the intention of approaching Mr. Tudge to gain future influence on behalf of the CCP.
“The CCP, through the United Front system, runs a global program of influence directed, in large part, at the more than 40 million ethnic Chinese people living overseas,” Mr. Doyle said. “Seeking to persuade them it is in their interest to advance the agenda of the CCP.”
He noted that while Mr. Duong’s membership of the United Front was not itself illegal, nor was lobbying a minister, “the disclosure that you are acting on someone’s behalf is critical.”
Mr. Duong’s lawyer, Neil Clelland, argued that police lacked evidence that Mr. Duong was being instructed by, or was reporting to the CCP.
But the judge agreed with the prosecution, which said that under the new legislation, the police did not need evidence that Mr. Duong was planning to commit a future act of interference.
It was enough that when Mr. Duong approached Mr. Tudge, he believed that a good relationship with the minister might lead to his becoming an advocate for policy issues related to China.
In an intercepted phone call between the accused and his associates, Mr. Duong said Mr. Tudge, whom he described as likely to be “the prime minister in the future” could be a “patron or supporter for us” and speak on issues “for us Chinese.”
‘Bejing Will Know What I’m Doing’
Another recording captured the businessman telling an associate: “When I do things, it never gets reported in the newspaper but Beijing will know what I’m doing.”Mr. Duong previously sat on the board of a major Chinese state-run influence organisation, the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification. Fellow directors have included Huang Xiangmo, whom Australian security agencies banned from re-entering Australia.
Mr. Duong is also on the board of the Museum of Chinese Australian History in Melbourne.
Other directors of that organisation have included Mike Yang, who was a senior adviser to the former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews.
Amongst witnesses in the trial was former Victorian Liberal MP Robert Clark, who was questioned about an email outlining “policy ideas” that Mr. Duong sent him in early 2019.
Mr. Clark, who was the acting president of the Victorian Liberals at the time, said he dismissed the approach as “very superficial and naive” and did not forward it to any members of parliament.
A Novelty Cheque
Mr. Tudge also gave evidence, confirming he had organised the event at which Mr. Duong handed over a large novelty cheque to the hospital.He also confirmed that, about three months after the donation, his office received an email from Mr. Duong asking for a COVID-19 travel exemption to be granted to one of his friends, who wanted to fly to Vietnam.
Mr. Tudge said his staff dealt with the matter and forwarded the request to another department. He claimed he was not aware of Mr. Duong’s email until police informed him of it months later.
Growing Concerns Over CCP’s Influence
Links to Chinese donations have been the downfall of several political figures in recent years, underscoring concerns about the communist regime’s influence in Australia.He was later elected unopposed to a powerful Hong Kong electoral body on a strongly pro-Beijing platform.
A Chinese community leader in Sydney and close associate of Mr. Moselmane, John Zhang had extolled MP’s virtues the year before on his blog.
Politicians had been warned in 2017 by then ASIO Chief Duncan Lewis that both Labor and the Coalition were being targeted by the United Front as part of its efforts to covertly influence Australian politics.
