Australia Probes Spy Claims by Man Who China Calls Fugitive
Australian Government Investigating Chinese Spy Claims, ABC Says
(Bloomberg) -- Australia is investigating reports that a man who is claiming to be a Chinese spy is seeking political asylum in Australia and is offering intelligence information, ABC News reported, citing Treasurer Josh Frydenberg.
The Treasurer said the reports are “very disturbing” but he can’t comment on the case as it’s in the hands of law-enforcement agencies, according to the ABC on Saturday. Shanghai police said in a statement late Saturday that the 26-year-old “self-claimed China spy” is under investigation for fraud, and that his Chinese and Hong Kong identity documents are forged.
Frydenberg’s comment follows a report in newspapers including The Age that the alleged spy, Wang Liqiang, is seeking asylum in Australia. He is offering secret information including the identities of China’s senior military intelligence officers in Hong Kong, and details on political interference operations in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia, it said.
Wang said he was personally involved in the 2015 kidnapping and the abduction of Hong Kong bookseller Lee Bo to the Chinese mainland, The Age reported. He said he operated under cover in Hong Kong as a businessman for a company that was a front for Chinese intelligence agencies, it said.
The company was identified in some reports as Hong Kong-listed China Innovation Investment Ltd. In a stock exchange filing on Sunday, China Innovation said reports that its Chief Executive Officer Xiang Xin and the company were involved in intelligence and espionage activities have “no factual basis and is completely false.”
“The protagonist of the news reports, the person who claimed to be Wang Liqiang, has never been an employee of the group,” it said. “The company has already referred the matter to the company’s lawyer and will consider taking practical legal action.”
According to Shanghai police, Wang was sentenced to 15 months in prison for fraud by a local court in Fujian province in 2016, and put on probation for 18 months. In February 2019, Wang was alleged to have defrauded an investor of about 4.6 million yuan ($653,000) through a fictitious investment project on imported automobiles. On April 19, the Jingan branch of the Shanghai Public Security Bureau initiated an investigation against Wang on suspicion of fraud. Police said Wang left for Hong Kong on April 10.
Wang, who claims to be at risk of execution if he returns to China, has approached the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, according to The Age newspaper. ASIO said they couldn’t immediately comment on Saturday. There was no response to a fax sent to China’s foreign ministry.
Opposition Labor party leader Anthony Albanese told reporters on Saturday that Wang may be entitled to asylum in Australia. “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,” he said.
To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Andrew Heathcote in Melbourne at aheathcote4@bloomberg.net;Dandan Li in Beijing at dli395@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Shamim Adam at sadam2@bloomberg.net, Stanley James
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With assistance from Bloomberg