Beijing: The Chinese businessman, Huang Xiangmo, whose large donations to the major parties sparked a national debate about foreign political donations, has stepped down as chairman of the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China.

The council has attracted controversy amid the debate on foreign influence in Australian politics because of its staunch support of the Chinese government's policies on Tibet and Taiwan, and careful cultivation of Australian politicians as honorary office holders over the past decade.

Huang Xiangmo with former prime minister Kevin Rudd.

At Saturday's annual meeting of the ACPPRC, Huang was lauded as a "banner" and likened to a patriotic flag who had made "heroic achievements" in the past year.

"This past year, this banner has written in the mainstream media, in a confrontation of ideas, and faced the wind fluttering," the Council reported on its website, in an echo of China's Ode to the Motherland, a famous patriotic tune with the chorus.