China’s top diplomat in Australia has launched a remarkable attack on ASIO and other Western intelligence agencies, accusing them of fabricating spying claims against his nation as he issued a sweeping denial that Beijing engages in foreign interference.
The combative intervention has sparked calls for ambassador Xiao Qian to be summoned for an official rebuke and drawn pushback from ASIO, injecting new friction into the Australia-China relationship after years of steady improvement.
Xiao, who has represented China in Canberra since 2022, accused ASIO of smearing China in a video aired before director-general Mike Burgess’ annual threat assessment last week, suggesting it could undermine ongoing legal proceedings.
“China itself has long suffered from foreign interference and has no intention of, nor has it ever engaged in, so-called interference in Australia,” Xiao writes in an opinion piece submitted to this masthead.
In an attempt to tamp down criticism of Beijing’s activities, Xiao argues that “certain Australian organisations and media outlets have repeatedly fabricated and hyped falsehoods and fallacies regarding the security threat posed by China”.
“Although these allegations have never been substantiated, and not a single perpetrator has been held accountable, they have deeply wounded the feelings of the people of both China and Australia, and undermined the atmosphere of friendly co-operation between the two sides,” he writes.
Xiao, who sat in the second row for Burgess’ speech at ASIO headquarters last week, writes that the video aired for an audience of journalists, diplomats and national security professionals included “charges of foreign interference against specific individuals to cast aspersions on China”.
“Whilst relevant cases are still pending and facts have yet to be established, what harm will the broadcasting of such an official video cause to the individuals concerned?” Xiao asks.
“What message will this one-sided information convey to the Australian public? And what impact will it have on China-Australia relations?”
The video included television footage of Chinese nationals who appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court in February after being accused of covertly gathering information on a Canberra Buddhist group to send back to China.
The 25-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman have been charged with reckless foreign interference. Both have entered not guilty pleas and the trial is ongoing.
The professionally edited ASIO video, which has not been publicly released, also included footage of the case of Australian businessman Alexander Csergo, who was found guilty of reckless foreign interference in March after a jury found he compiled reports for two suspected Chinese spies while overseas.
An ASIO spokeswoman said: “Noting the ambassador advocates the application of the rule of law, we point you to: the conviction of a Melbourne man for attempting to interfere in Australia’s political system to advance the interests of the Chinese Communist Party [and] the conviction of a Sydney man who gave Chinese spies information on Australia’s economic, defence and political priorities.”
Melbourne man Di Sanh “Sunny” Duong was sentenced to two years and nine months in prison in 2024 after a jury found him guilty of trying to secretly influence former federal minister Alan Tudge to advance the aims of the Chinese Communist Party.
Australian Strategic Policy Institute executive director Justin Bassi hit out at the ambassador, accusing him of “trying to undermine confidence in ASIO and turn Australians against the people whose job it is to keep them safe”.
“That is not a legitimate use of Australia’s freedom of speech and the ambassador should be called in by DFAT [the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade] or the government,” he said.
“The article should not be ignored but called out for what it is: a foreign government’s propaganda based on mistruths and an attempt to use our free media to censor Australians.”
Bassi said it was false to claim that China had never engaged in interference and that no perpetrators had been held accountable.
“A senator resigned in 2017, Chinese nationals have had their visas revoked, and individuals have been found guilty by the courts,” he said.
“Australia introduced foreign interference laws in 2018 solely due to the activities of the Chinese government.”
Former Australian Signals Directorate boss Rachel Noble, who attributed major cyberattacks to China during her time leading the cyber agency, defended ASIO’s efforts to inform the public. “ASIO, along with ASD through its many cybersecurity advisories, play a vitally important role in warning Australians about threats and educating and empowering us about how to counter them,” she said.
“Espionage and foreign interference are real threats facing for Australia – from the PRC, as well as other nations.”
The section on China covered around 15 seconds of the seven-minute ASIO video dominated by antisemitic attacks in Australia, including the Bondi massacre, and wars in the Middle East.
Burgess did not mention China by name in his speech.
A bulletin issued by ASIO and partner agencies from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network in June accused China’s military intelligence services of “using an increasingly wide array of professional networking sites and online job platforms to target Five Eyes government and military personnel – and anyone with access to classified or privileged information”.
In his opinion piece, Xiao accuses the Five Eyes agencies of “slandering” China and “concocting a sensational charge against another nation out of thin air” through the bulletin.
China’s Foreign Ministry last year lodged complaints with the Albanese government over a speech by Burgess in which he called out Beijing for state-sponsored hacking.
Charles Sturt University public ethics professor Clive Hamilton, who has written two books on foreign interference by the Chinese Communist Party, said: “Australians would be less nervous about China and the security threat it poses if the Chinese government behaved less threateningly.”
A 2023 Senate inquiry on foreign interference through social media found: “Authoritarian regimes like China and Russia are deploying new methods for cyber-enabled disinformation activities as part of a broader, integrated strategic campaign to advance their own national interests at Australia’s expense.”
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Matthew Knott is the foreign affairs and national security correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via X, Facebook or email.From our partners
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