‘Nightmare’: Former Spy Reveals 1,200 CCP Spies Embedded in Australia

A former CCP spy has warned Australia of the number of agents in the country. (Melanie Sun/The Epoch Times)

A former Chinese Communist Party (CCP) spy, known as “Eric,” has told an Australian defence conference that at least 1,200 secret CCP agents are operating within the country.

The startling disclosure was made at the Defending Australia Summit in Canberra, attended by military leaders, including Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles.

Speaking with an interpreter, the former spy warned Australia to maintain strong ties with the United States, because the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) perceives Australia as weak.

“So he says that the CCP’s attempt to control voices in the Chinese community actually then, in turn, affects voting in those countries and influences politics,” Sky News host, turned impromptu translator, Cheng Lei said on behalf of Eric.

“So, that does erode rights in Western countries and should be something that we’re all concerned about.”

Ms. Lei had stepped in after the arranged interpreter opted out over concerns of repeating what Eric had to say.

Ms. Lei herself was formally a political prisoner of the CCP. She was detained in retaliation for the Morrison government’s public push for an inquiry into the origins of COVID-19.

Eric warned Australia against remaining neutral when it came to supporting the United States in the event of a military conflict, warning it would be next.

“He thinks that if Australia stands by and (doesn’t) help the U.S., it’s going to be the start of Australia’s nightmare,” Ms. Lei said.

Eric’s comments align with those made by former CCP diplomat Chen Yonglin after he defected in 2005.

Mr. Chen famously declared the CCP implanted 1,000 spies throughout Australia with many being casual informants occasionally providing intelligence to Beijing.

“The main mission for CCP spies is to monitor the activities of groups who oppose the CCP, especially pro-democracy activists,” he said at the time, noting that the Falun Gong spiritual movement was a major target with over 800 adherent’s names on a “blacklist.”

The Epoch Times reported earlier this month on Eric, who cautioned that Beijing had agents all over the world to harass dissidents and attempt to get them back to China.

Eric shared screenshots where CCP “handlers” would give him step-by-step instructions before he defected.

He disclosed his situation to Australian authorities last year, later telling the public broadcaster that he was involved in numerous operations for the CCP from 2008 to early 2023.

He said missions were based around surveilling, abducting, and silencing members of the Chinese community around the world.

Eric likened the departments he worked for to the KGB, Stasi, or Gestapo and said he was recruited as a spy after being detained for his involvement in the pro-democracy movement.

It was then he was given the choice between jail and becoming a spy.

“They forced me to work for them … I didn’t have a choice,” he said.

Warnings Follow Flares in Path of Aussie Chopper

Eric’s warnings come just weeks after an incident over the Yellow Sea where a Beijing warplane shot flares into the path of an Australian Navy helicopter.

The Australian aircraft was taking part in a U.N. mission to enforce sanctions against North Korea.

Michael Shoebridge, director of defence think tank Strategic Analysis Australia, said this incident was simply the latest of many acts by the Chinese military to deliberately endanger the lives of others.

“It is now a pattern of behaviour that can only be directed by the highest level in Beijing, and that means it is a policy of [CCP leader] Xi Jinping’s,” he told The Epoch Times.

“Pretending each dangerous act by the Chinese military towards Australia’s and other militaries could perhaps be just the individual ’tactical' in the moment decision of a particular Chinese military pilot or naval captain is no longer tenable.”