A Melbourne-based Asian community leader has been accused of concealing his links with an organisation controlled by Beijing’s chief overseas influence body, a court has been told.
On Dec. 7, the prosecution argued that 68-year-old Duong Di Sanh, also known as Sunny Duong, had lied to police when he was questioned about his involvement with the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification. This organisation is controlled by the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) United Front Work Department.
Mr. Duong, who appeared before the Victorian County Court on Dec. 7, is the first person being tried under Australia’s 2018 foreign interference laws.
The prosecution alleges that he was preparing for an act of foreign interference by trying to influence Mr. Tudge, a Liberal frontbencher in the Morrison government.
During the trial, the prosecution said that when police asked Mr. Duong if he had any involvement with the Beijing-linked organisation, he denied the connection.
“I never do anything with that. I never organise fundraising, meeting or seminar for that,” Mr. Duong told police. “I only concentrate on my community.”
But when police played a tape recording of a conversation between Mr. Duong and an associate, he changed his answer.
During the trial, the jury was asked to revisit phone call transcriptions, WeChat messages, and police interviews in the context of the “donation” Mr. Duong gave to Mr. Tudge.
Line of Questioning ‘Broad Enough’ to Provide Clear Answer: Prosecution
Crown prosecutor Patrick Doyle SC said the questions asked by police were “broad enough” for Mr. Duong to provide to clear answer.“Firstly these questions are clearly broad enough to accommodate any kind of distinction between the two. Secondly … branches of this organisation are all answerable to the body in China,” Mr. Doyle argued, saying that Mr. Duong lied about attending events in China and his relationship with Beijing’s ministry of state security.
“All lies say something about the credibility about the person who’s telling them, but some lies say more than that,” Mr. Doyle said.
“Some lies told … that the person knows they can’t afford to tell the truth because the truth would reveal too much.”
“The crown case is not about the donation, or even media attention as such.
‘Donation’ to Tudge
Mr. Duong, a former Liberal Party member, was the president of the Oceania Federation of Chinese Organisations from Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos.He also held a senior role in the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, which is affiliated with the CCP’s overseas influence arm, the United Front Work Department.
In 2020, after soliciting over $37,000 (US$24,000) from Melbourne’s Chinese community, Mr. Duong reached out to Mr. Tudge’s office, saying he wanted to donate the money to help frontline healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr. Tudge suggested that he would organise an event where Mr. Duong could donate to the Royal Melbourne Hospital.
“I suggested to him we would probably get media along for it, that I would coordinate that and it would be a really positive story for the Australian-Chinese community,” Mr. Tudge told the Victorian County Court on Nov. 20.
“I was certainly hoping to get TV coverage.”
Mr. Tudge believed that the donation was an “opportunity” to counter negativity towards Chinese people during the pandemic.
Mr. Duong’s lawyer, Peter Chadwick KC, argued that the hospital donation was not a covert attempt to influence Mr. Tudge and that his client was solely concerned about local community issues.
In November, Mr. Duong pleaded not guilty to the commonwealth charge of preparing for or planning an act of foreign interference, with his lawyers arguing “in the strongest possible terms” that his client did not seek to influence Mr Tudge.
The prosecution will now need to convince the jury beyond reasonable doubt that Mr. Duong was plotting to try to influence Mr. Tudge.
The maximum penalty is 20 years imprisonment if a person is found to have engaged in conduct on behalf of a foreign principal to “influence a political or governmental process” under the National Security Legislation Amendment (Espionage and Foreign Interference) Bill.
In his closing statement on Dec. 7, Mr. Doyle said Mr. Duong had been “cultivated”—over a number of years—by the United Front Work Department.
The United Front Work Department serves the CCP’s interests by shaping international public opinion of the CCP, and by monitoring and reporting on the activities of the Chinese diaspora.
“He’s very proud of his Chinese heritage, over time the Chinese Communist Party has tapped into these aspects of his character—particularly his patriotism,” Mr. Doyle said.
“There can be no doubt that Mr. Duong has taken to heart the connection to the motherland that the United Font system has been designed to inculcate.”
The trial returns on Dec. 8, when Mr. Duong’s defence lawyer will make his closing remarks to the jury.
