Governments May Plant More Spies Within the CCP: Defence Expert

A Chinese national flag flutters near the surveillance cameras mounted on a lamp post in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, on March 15, 2019. Andy Wong/AP Photo

Governments may increase their espionage efforts in China in response to weakening transparency from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership, according to an Australian defence expert.

Michael Shoebridge, director at Strategic Analysis Australia, made the comments as attention focuses on the CCP’s espionage interference overseas.

“As Xi Jinping closes China to foreign journalists and academics and makes it harder for foreign businesses to operate there, there will be an increasing drive by other countries’ government agencies to get sources inside Chinese institutions and organisations,” he wrote in an email to The Epoch Times on Sept. 12.

“Unlike Beijing’s efforts overseas, that is far less likely to involve trying to interfere in politics and decision making in China and be much more focused on gaining information and insights about the opaque workings of the CCP and those around Xi.”

CCP Spy Found in UK Parliament

The comments come after a UK Parliament researcher was arrested on suspicions of “spying for China” and is alleged to have fed information to Beijing through his position as a researcher for a member of Parliament.

The suspect, arrested and released on bail in March, is a male Briton in his late 20s who studied and worked in China, according to The Times newspaper.

The report said the man had high-level security clearance and had helped shape the UK’s China policy.

Following the report, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak told broadcasters at the G20 summit in New Delhi that he had raised “a range of different concerns” with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, including his “very strong concerns about any interference in [the UK’s] parliamentary democracy, which is obviously unacceptable.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak walks at Downing Street in London on Sept. 6, 2023. Reuters/Susannah Ireland/File Photo

Australian Policymakers Warn About Foreign Interference

Labor MP Peter Khalil, the chair of parliament’s intelligence and security committee, has warned Australians to remain “vigilant” against foreign interference.

“People really have to be aware and be vigilant of those attempts,” Mr. Khalil told ABC radio on Sept. 12.

“The security agencies and the intelligence agencies are responsible for the vetting of staff.

“It’s a pretty deep dive ... and that occurs with across departments and the government and the parliament.”

Before this, Liberal Senator James Paterson, the shadow minister for home affairs, warned the risk of a Chinese spy undermining Australia’s democracy processes was “very high.”

“Unfortunately, the risk of this happening in Australia is very high because the vast majority of staff who work in this building here in Parliament House are not security vetted or cleared in any way,” he told media in Canberra on Sept. 11.

“If you work for a government backbencher, anyone in opposition, including shadow ministers, then you are not required and you’re not able to be security vetted. Only ministerial staff are security vetted.”

The Australian flag is seen at full mast after the Proclamation of King Charles III, on the forecourt of Parliament House on Sept. 11, 2022 in Canberra, Australia. Mick Tsikas - Pool/Getty Images

Senator Paterson called for a change of the vetting process, at least for MPs who “work on sensitive committees like the Intelligence and Security Committee or the new statutory defence committee, which is going to oversee AUKUS.”

Mr. Khalil said it was an “ongoing conversation” whether there should be an increase in the vetting of staff.

“Our security agencies work pretty much around the clock to ensure that there is no, or there’s a mitigation of any, attempts at foreign interference within our democratic institutions,” he said. “They do a pretty good job of it.”

More CCP Espionage to Be Expected: Expert 

Michael Shoebridge, the former director of defence at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, said more cases of Chinese espionage and political interference should be expected not just in Australia, but across the democratic world.

“Sowing discord and magnifying dissent inside countries, their parliaments, and governments is a tactic that Beijing—and its strategic partner Russia—see as effective and useful, so they will do more of it,” he said.

“Overall, Beijing’s aggressive intelligence gathering and foreign interference activities will continue to be a destabilising factor in Australia and many other nations’ relationships with China—and will disrupt even the most careful attempts at calm and constructive relationship building by showing the dark side of Beijing’s goals and activities.”

Michael Shoebridge, director and CEO of Strategic Analysis Australia. Credit to Michael Shoebridge

Mr. Shoebridge said some incidents, such as the one involving a Chinese academic who was raided by the Australian Federal Police and allegedly offered $2,000 in cash for information, could stoke paranoia in Beijing about travelling Chinese individuals bringing security risks on return.

“This will reinforce Xi’s mindset around control,” he said.

A spokesman for Home Affairs Minister Clare O’Neil said the government “will always follow security advice from intelligence agencies, including in relation to security vetting.”