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Chinese Spy Wang Liqiang decided to seek political asylum in Australia and detail his involvement in covert operations ordered by Beijing for overseas assassinations
Saturday, November 23, 2019
Wang Liqiang now lives in hiding in Australia after abandoning his life as a Chinese spy.CREDIT: ILLUSTRATION: MARK STEHLE, PORTRAIT: STEVEN SIEWERT |
VietPress USA (Nov. 22, 2019): A Chinese man claiming to have worked as a secret Chinese operative for five years says Beijing has directed overseas assassinations, including on Australian soil. His name is Wang “William” Liqiang who was born to a middle-class family in Fujian, the Chinese province ringed on one side by the grand Wuyi mountains and on the other by a 180-kilometre stretch of water separating the mainland from Taiwan. His father was a regional Communist Party official who provided for his family as China’s prosperity grew.
According to Te Age, for fresh-faced Chinese intelligence operative Wang “William” Liqiang, the arrival of a fake South Korean passport earlier this year triggered such a moment.
The name, date and place of birth on the passport belonged to someone else but the photo was his. His orders were to shift his attention from a covert operation to undermine Hong Kong’s democracy movement and focus instead on meddling in Taiwan’s 2020 elections. The ultimate aim was to topple President Tsai Ing-wen.
But staring at his own face in the false passport stirred something in Wang. After five years as a “cut-out” or “co-optee” for the Chinese military intelligence system, he realised he was at risk of losing himself. As he would later write, he was on the cusp of becoming “a person without real identity”.
The imagined addressee was the Australian government. The imagined contents would detail his role in Chinese intelligence operations. It would provide an unprecedented insider’s account of the extensive espionage and foreign interference network which operates with seeming impunity in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia. He would also describe the lure of democracy, the system he had devoted his past few years to destroying.
In late May, while he was still in Sydney, Wang was issued orders to travel to Taiwan under the fake identity. He made up his mind.
It would be several months before he would receive a phone call from ASIO directing him to meet a man on a street corner at a certain time. But now there was no turning back. He had decided to betray the most powerful and ruthless authoritarian country in the world.
Read this special report from ABC News at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-23/chinese-spy-wang-liqiang-seeks-political-asylum-australia-report/11732174
The name, date and place of birth on the passport belonged to someone else but the photo was his. His orders were to shift his attention from a covert operation to undermine Hong Kong’s democracy movement and focus instead on meddling in Taiwan’s 2020 elections. The ultimate aim was to topple President Tsai Ing-wen.
But staring at his own face in the false passport stirred something in Wang. After five years as a “cut-out” or “co-optee” for the Chinese military intelligence system, he realised he was at risk of losing himself. As he would later write, he was on the cusp of becoming “a person without real identity”.
The imagined addressee was the Australian government. The imagined contents would detail his role in Chinese intelligence operations. It would provide an unprecedented insider’s account of the extensive espionage and foreign interference network which operates with seeming impunity in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia. He would also describe the lure of democracy, the system he had devoted his past few years to destroying.
In late May, while he was still in Sydney, Wang was issued orders to travel to Taiwan under the fake identity. He made up his mind.
It would be several months before he would receive a phone call from ASIO directing him to meet a man on a street corner at a certain time. But now there was no turning back. He had decided to betray the most powerful and ruthless authoritarian country in the world.
Read this special report from ABC News at: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-23/chinese-spy-wang-liqiang-seeks-political-asylum-australia-report/11732174
VietPress USA News
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Chinese spy Wang Liqiang alleges Beijing ordered overseas murders, including in Australia
By defence correspondent Andrew Greene
Updated yesterday at 10:43pm
PHOTO: Wang Liqiang has warned against "underestimating our organisation". (Supplied: 60 Minutes Australia)
A man claiming to have worked as a secret Chinese operative for five years says Beijing has directed overseas assassinations, including on Australian soil.
Key points:
- Wang Liqiang is reported to be in an undisclosed Sydney location on a tourist visa
- He has provided new information about the kidnapping of five booksellers from Hong Kong and their rendition to mainland China, according to Nine Newspapers
- He has also reportedly revealed information about spies from Beijing infiltrating the Hong Kong democracy movement, Taiwan's elections and involvement in Australian affairs
Government sources have confirmed to the ABC Wang "William" Liqiang has detailed the sensational allegations as he seeks political asylum.
Nine Newspapers have reported Mr Wang is in hiding in Sydney after recently providing a sworn statement to Australia's domestic spy agency ASIO outlining Beijing's covert operations.
One senior official, speaking to the ABC on the condition of anonymity, said the challenge for security agencies was to now "separate fact from fiction" while assessing Mr Wang's disclosures.
PHOTO: The Treasurer said the Government is following up on the "sensitive matter". (ABC News: Tamara Penniket)
In the statement Mr Wang provided ASIO last month, he reportedly states: "I have been personally involved and participated in a series of espionage activities".
According to Nine Newspapers, Mr Wang has provided new details about the kidnapping of five booksellers who specialised in works critical of Chinese leaders based in Hong Kong, starting in 2015, and their rendition to mainland China.
He is also reported to have said spies from Beijing were infiltrating Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement, influencing Taiwan's elections and "operating with impunity in Australia", according to The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said it was a "sensitive matter" being followed up by the relevant authorities.
"These are very disturbing reports and the matter is now in the hands of the appropriate law enforcement agencies so I wouldn't comment on the particulars of individual cases," he said.
"The Government makes no apologies for the measures we have taken to ensure that we have foreign interference laws in place."
According to the reports, Mr Wang is seeking political asylum and remains in an undisclosed location in Sydney on a tourist visa.
Mr Wang told Nine Newspapers the Chinese Communist Party "infiltrates all countries in areas such as military, business and culture, in order to achieve its goal".
He continued: "You shouldn't underestimate our organisation … we were cultivated and trained by the organisation for many years before taking up important positions.
"[The Chinese Communist Party] wants to ensure no-one threatens its authority."
In a clip from 60 Minutes posted to social media on Saturday, Mr Wang said, through a translator, that he was "responsible for organising the cyber army to attack people online".
"Imagine the consequence of betraying the organisation."
When asked why he had decided to seek political asylum in Australia and detail his involvement in such covert operations, he said: "I know very well that the Chinese Communist Party can never be trusted. Once I go back, I will be dead."
PHOTO: Mr Wang reportedly said Xi Jinping's Chinese Community Party "can never be trusted". (Xinhua/Ju Peng: AP)
When asked about reports Mr Wang is currently in Sydney and seeking asylum, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese said: "These reports are of real concern."
He called for "Australia's national sovereignty [to be] protected," adding, "we will await processes with the Government and one of the things that we will be seeking next week is a briefing from the appropriate authorities on these issues".
The Labor leader said the question of whether the country should accept Mr Wang's reported asylum request would be "a decision for the Government".
"But, I'm sympathetic with the circumstances and 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," Mr Albanese added.
Responding to the news of Mr Wang's reported asylum claim on Twitter, former Chinese diplomat Chen Yonglin said 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 high-tech world.
"China collects all data of WeChat users, listens to Apple [mobile phones] and hacks PCs, besides [there are] over 1,000 operatives on the payroll," he added.
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