In March this year, a cleaner found the body of Bo "Nick" Zhao in a suburban Melbourne motel room.

Key points: Bo "Nick" Zhao was allegedly targeted to be a Chinese agent in Federal Parliament

Bo "Nick" Zhao was allegedly targeted to be a Chinese agent in Federal Parliament Another man claims he was a Chinese spy and is reportedly seeking asylum in Australia

Another man claims he was a Chinese spy and is reportedly seeking asylum in Australia Domestic spy agency ASIO says it is investigating and takes the matters seriously

Local police investigated but were unable to determine how the former car salesman died.

Now, reports have emerged suggesting Mr Zhao was being groomed to become a Chinese spy inside Australia's Parliament.

"I heard that he was a 32-year-old Melbourne resident cultivated by the Chinese Government to run as a Liberal Party candidate," Government MP Andrew Hastie told Channel Nine.

The Nine media group has detailed the extraordinary claims in a series of stories over the weekend.

Mr Zhao had been a grassroots Liberal Party member in the multicultural electorate of Chisholm since 2015.

He was reportedly approached by another Melbourne business figure who offered to pump $1 million into a business for Mr Zhao.

In return, the man apparently wanted Mr Zhao to run for Federal Parliament.

Bo "Nick" Zhao was allegedly targeted to be a Chinese agent in Parliament. ( Reuters: Jason Lee )

According to the reports, Western security sources suspect the businessman is a "senior Chinese intelligence operative" — a claim he denies.

Mr Zhao told domestic spy agency ASIO of the offer about a year ago.

He died just months later.

But the young man reportedly also faced legal and financial troubles over many years.

He had been charged with fraudulently obtaining loans to buy luxury vehicles, at least one of his car dealerships collapsed, and "shadowy Chinese investors" were pursuing Mr Zhao over money he owed.

Federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie said Mr Zhao was vulnerable to foreign spy cultivation. ( ABC News: Andrew O'Connor )

Mr Hastie, who is the chair of Parliament's intelligence and security committee, described Mr Zhao as "a perfect target for cultivation" by an overseas spy agency.

"A guy who was a bit of a high-roller in Melbourne, living beyond his means, someone who was vulnerable to a foreign state intelligence service cultivating [him]" Mr Hastie told Nine.

Australia's domestic spy boss issues rare public statement

ASIO chief Mike Burgess inside Parliament House, Canberra this year. ( ABC News: Ian Cutmore )

ASIO chief Mike Burgess said the intelligence agency took the allegation "seriously" and "has been actively investigating", along with another matter raised by Nine journalists over recent days.

That case involves Wang "William" Liqiang, who has publicly claimed to be a Chinese spy.

"I have personally been involved and participated in a series of espionage activities," Mr Wang reportedly told ASIO in a sworn statement.

Mr Wang moved to Hong Kong for work in 2014 with a private company.

Wang Liqiang has reportedly sought political asylum in Australia. ( Supplied: Channel Nine. )

But the firm, he told Nine, was a front for a Beijing intelligence agency.

Over the five years during which he claims to have worked as a Chinese agent, Mr Wang said he:

Was involved in the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers in 2015

Was involved in the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers in 2015 Was tasked with buying other countries' weapons to "steal US intelligence from them"

Was tasked with buying other countries' weapons to "steal US intelligence from them" Played a role in an operation targeting elections in Taiwan in 2018

Taiwan and mainland China split in 1949 at the end of a brutal civil war.

In May this year, while in Australia, Mr Wang said he was ordered to travel to Taiwan on a fake South Korean passport.

His mission was to meddle ahead of the territory's 2020 presidential elections.

But instead he remained in Australia, engaged with the Government's counter-espionage agency, applied for political asylum and went public with his astonishing account.

He also said Beijing had directed overseas assassinations, including on Australian soil.

And Mr Wang told Nine he would be killed if he returned home: "Once I go back, I will be dead."

In a statement to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, someone purporting to be a spokesman for the private company rubbished the claims as "ridiculous and untrue".

The Shanghai police department denounced Mr Wang as a convicted fraudster, saying he was wanted by police over a $960,000 "fake investment project".

The asylum seeker rejected the police statement.

A senior official told the ABC that Australian security agencies were working to assess the accuracy of Mr Wang's reports.