A Chinese spy who has blown his own cover is offering ASIO inside intelligence on Chinese espionage, and Journalist Kel Richards says claims of assassinations and other activities ordered by Beijing are just “the tip of the iceberg”. Mr Richard’s comments come following a joint investigation by 60 Minutes and Nine Newspapers, with Wang “William” Liqiang claiming he can expose Beijing’s interference operations in Australia and overseas. Journalist Kel Richards told Front Page he thinks this story will “explode” throughout the week. “More is going to come out and it's going to become harder and harder for Australian politicians to say ‘Chinese trade is so important to us’... that’s going to become harder,” Mr Richards said. “Over the next week, this will just explode.” Mr Liqiang hiding in a secret location in Sydney and is seeking political asylum in Australia.

Claims by Chinese spy are likely just “the tip of the iceberg” says media pundit

Chinese police have called a former Chinese spy claiming political asylum in Australia a convicted fraudster.

Wang “William” Liqiang has provided Australia’s counterespionage agency ASIO details of how China’s senior military intelligence officers fund and conducted political interference operations.

His statement detailed efforts to infiltrate Hong Kong’s democracy movement, manipulate Taiwan’s elections and information about Chinese intelligence operations in Australia.

He is the first Chinese intelligence operative to blow his cover.

“I have personally been involved and participated in a series of espionage activities,” Wang said in a statement to ASIO in October.

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Wang is currently at an undisclosed location in Sydney on a tourist visa, and told Nine he is seeking urgent protection from the Australian government.

He says he has made the plea in multiple meetings with ASIO, and will face certain detention and possible execution if he returns to China.

Wang told Nine the Chinese Communist party “infiltrates all countries in areas such as military, business and culture, in order to achieve its goal.”

Police in Shanghai, however, have said Wang is an unemployed, 26-year-old man from the eastern province of Fujian, and is wanted in connection with a fraud case, Reuters reports.

This is a war between a lie and a truth. https://t.co/4P9gS0yo56 — chen yonglin (@chen_yonglin) November 23, 2019

In a brief statement, police said on April 10, Wang went to Hong Kong carrying a fraudulent Chinese passport and Hong Kong permanent residency card.

He had previously been convicted of fraud in 2016.

Senior federal government minister John Frydenberg said the matter is in the hands of appropriate law enforcement agencies, and declined to comment on individual cases.

“I would say the government makes no apologies for the strong measures that we have taken to ensure that we have foreign interference laws in place, that we are resourcing our law enforcement intelligence agencies, like never before,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Saturday.

“We will always stand up for our national interests, whether it’s on matters of foreign policy, foreign investment or other related issues.”

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Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese says the revelations were a concern, and is seeking a briefing with the appropriate agencies next week.

“We need to make sure that Australia’s national sovereignty is protected,” Mr Albanese told reporters in Geelong yesterday.

Asked whether he believed Wang should be offered asylum, Albanese said it would be a decision for the government but that he was “sympathetic with the circumstances”.

“We know that he has outlined a range of activities which clearly put him in a circumstance whereby it’s a legitimate claim for asylum,” he said.

“We support human rights. We are a democracy. We support freedom of expression. And these things need to be dealt with on their merits. And Australia has obligations under the principles of the way that we operate as a democracy.”

Former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin wrote on Twitter that Mr Wang would not be safe in Australia.

“He’d better move to America later. He is not safe in Australia. Since he revealed names and IDs of operatives and kidnappings, he may be executed,” he wrote.

“Extremely difficult to hide the whole family from a powerful surveillance state like China in (a) modern hi-tech world.”

– With AAP