Arrest of Chinese National Prompts Warning From Australian Foreign Minister on Foreign Interference

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Tuesday the country will not tolerate being “harassed or surveilled,” after a Chinese national was arrested for foreign interference on Monday.

The female suspect appeared in court for allegedly spying on a local Buddhist group on behalf of China’s ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

The suspect was arrested on Saturday and charged with one count of “reckless foreign interference”—a crime that carries a sentence of up to 15 years in jail.

Wong affirmed her commitment to safeguarding Australian values and democracy in an interview with ABC News Breakfast.

“We will stand together against any foreign interference,” she said. “We will not tolerate collectively or as a government, Australians being harassed or surveilled.”

In an interview with Nine Entertainment’s Today Show, Wong declined to comment on whether the Australian government had raised the incident with Beijing.

Wong said the Labor government is “clear-eyed” about the CCP’s political interests, and reiterated that “we’ve never said that dialogue eliminates differences.”

“Clearly it doesn’t,” she added.

Responding to reporters in Beijing on the arrest, China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson said that Beijing isn’t familiar with “the specific circumstances of the case” and claimed that the CCP “never interfere in other countries’ internal affairs.”

Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door is a Buddhist religion founded by Lu Junhong, who passed away in 2021. The religious group is banned by the CCP-controlled China Buddhist Association, according to religious liberty magazine Bitter Winter.

According to the AFP, it is pursuing the case based on the belief that the suspect was tasked by one of China’s local Public Security Bureaus to “covertly gather information about the Canberra branch of Guan Yin Citta.” The bureau falls under China’s Ministry of Public Security, tasked with defending the political security of the CCP.

This incident marks the third foreign interference case in Australia, and the first time a suspect has been charged with allegedly targeting members of the Australian community since the law’s introduction in 2018.

According to the national broadcaster Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the AFP says the woman has engaged in covert information gathering since 2022, and an informant told the court that they believe the suspect received tasks from the Chinese communist regime through an encrypted app.

The courts heard that the suspect’s husband, believed to be in China, was a “vice captain in a public security ministry in a Chinese province,” the ABC reported.

A $50,000 bail offered by an associate of the suspect was denied by Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker, stating that the woman is considered a flight risk.

Australia and China do not have a bilateral extradition treaty, and it is unlikely that the CCP will cooperate in the investigation.

The woman will next appear in court on Sept. 1.