State-run media says defector who alleged Chinese interference in Australia is ‘spouting nonsense’

This article is more than 9 months old

This article is more than 9 months old

Chinese state-run media outlet Global Times has published a video purporting to show self-declared Chinese spy Wang Liqiang confessing to fraud and pleading for leniency during a 2016 trial.

The video, first published on Weibo, has not been independently verified.

Wang outed himself in the Australian media this week as a former intelligence operative of Beijing. In a 12-page statement provided to Asio, Wang detailed alleged Chinese political interference in Hong Kong and Australia, and Beijing’s plans to disrupt presidential elections in the self-ruled island of Taiwan next year.

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Wang also said China had sought to install its own agent into Australian parliament: this reportedly was 32-year-old Bo “Nick” Zhao, who was found dead in a hotel room weeks after he reported to Asio he had been approached to run for parliament and offered financing by a man suspected to be a Chinese government operative.

There is no suggestion Zhao’s death is related to the approach to run for parliament, or his reporting it to Asio.

Asio said it was aware of Wang’s claims and was investigating. He has formally sought political asylum in Australia, and is living in an undisclosed location in Sydney with his wife and young child.

In the wake of his allegations, Chinese police claimed Wang was an unemployed man from the south-eastern province of Fujian who had been found guilty of fraud in 2016. He was also carrying a forged passport and Hong Kong resident document, they said.

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The Global Times said Wang had become “a new tool for the west to smear China”.

“It is clear that ‘fraudster turns spy’ is an absurd and flawed ‘script’ written by anti-China forces,” Zhu Fenglian, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said.

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The video footage, said to be from October 2016, shows a man identified as Wang Liqiang confessing to fraud and asking the court for leniency, saying he had “weak legal awareness”.

The Global Times reported Wang had continued his “fraudulent activities” overseas, “making up a series of fake stories that throw shade at China backed by western media speculation”.

“All the evidence points toward the fact that Wang is merely a fraudster spouting nonsense and mixing up black and white,” it said.

Wang’s lawyer in Australia, George Newhouse, told Guardian Australia: “He denies those allegations”.