The Western Australian government has been accused of ignoring the state’s non-Mainland Chinese (NMC) community after the McGowan government appointed two allegedly pro-Beijing community leaders to a taxpayer-funded policy advisory council.
Western Australian CCP influence expert Tshung Chang called out the WA Government for choosing CCP-linked individuals Ting Chen and Edward Zhang over other leaders in the Chinese community, despite a wealth of available nominees.
“Perth’s Chinese community is not homogeneous. It has Non-Mainland Chinese from Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Hong Kong and Taiwan,” Chang told The Epoch Times. “Zhang and Chen have been involved in groups that support mainland China and the CCP, but there are many others that don’t.”
Ting Chen is the president of Chung Wah—Australia’s oldest Chinese community organisation. Former president, Richard Tan, has admitted that many of the group’s current members were linked to the UFWD.
“The links with the United Front is something so obvious, or it has been so obvious in the past,” Tan told The Age. “It’s just that Australian politicians knowingly ignored it or pretend they don’t know.”
Likewise, Edward Zhang is the founder and chief editor of the Australian Chinese Times, a pro-Beijing newspaper that censors anti-China rhetoric in its publications.
Zhang has been directly connected to at least five separate organisations affiliated with the UFWD, as well as being the honorary chairman for WA’s branch of Australia’s most prominent Beijing-linked body—the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China (ACPPRC).
The Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China (CPPRC) is an arterial organisation in the UFWD’s worldwide arsenal and maintains appendages in at least 91 countries or territories worldwide—ACPPRC being CPPRC’s foothold in Australia.
Chang argues that the appointments should have been given to others who represent the plurality of the WA ethnically Chinese community.
“It may have been more representative of the plural community if the McGowan Government appointed Zhang or Chen along with another member from the NMC,” Chang said.
“But with their focus on supporting the CCP, are these the people Premier McGowan should have on a committee that promotes social cohesion and understanding? I know a dozen NMC community leaders who have deeper community roots and experience who will do a better job than Chen or Zhang.”
A WA Labor spokesperson told The Epoch Times that the MMAC served as a consultative body to the government, providing feedback regarding the needs of the state’s multicultural population and that appointments were made based on merit within the culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) community.
“MMAC Members are appointed based on their knowledge, experience and work with CaLD communities of WA and appointments are not based on political views or place of birth,” the spokesperson said.
WA Labor Govt Members’ Long Term Ties to Beijing
Several members of the WA Labor Party have either maintained close connections with CCP-linked individuals or repeatedly expressed support towards the communist regime, with the most notable being WA Labor Party Leader and Premier, Mark McGowan, and WA Labor’s upper house whip, Pierre Yang.“He advised me, encouraged me and supported me on my journey to become a parliamentarian,” Yang said. “Dr. Zhang is like an uncle to me, and I am privileged to have known Dr. Zhang.”
Months after the speech, it was revealed that Yang failed to declare his membership of two separate CCP-affiliated organisations, including the Northeast China Federation Inc and the Association of Great China, from which he later resigned. Yang was also listed as a member on WA’s ACPPRC website but denied its usage of his name and requested its removal.
McGowan strongly defended Yang after the discovery of his membership with the CCP-affiliated groups.
McGowan has also repeatedly worked to strengthen relations between WA and Beijing and defended his position on the basis that WA’s economy relies heavily on China, with 56 percent of its goods and over $100 billion worth of exports sent to the Asian nation in 2020.
McGowan has also made efforts to maintain positive relations with Beijing through the CCP consulate in the state’s capital, Perth, arranging multiple correspondences with at least three consul-generals who have each since passed the torch.
McGowan reportedly told Long he had visited China a total of four times since becoming WA’s premier, including his last visit to Beijing in 2018, where Yang accompanied him. A WA Labor spokesperson told The Epoch Times that McGowan’s visits were for trade, education and tourism purposes.