The man who may become Australia’s deputy prime minister met with Chinese embassy staff and officials on ten occasions in the past five years, continuing regular dialogue with the communist superpower when government ministers were shut out by Beijing.
Labor’s Richard Marles even held talks with former ambassador Cheng Jingye, who kickstarted China’s campaign of economic coercion against Australia and penned the notorious list of 14 grievances.
His regular contact with the openly hostile embassy raised eyebrows even within his own party, who passed their concerns to intelligence agencies.
Then Shadow Defence Minister Richard Marles meets with deputy head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Liaison Department Guo Yezhou, during his visit to Beijing in September 2019
During his meetings, the Victorian MP is understood to have inferred that ‘diplomatic relations would improve under a Labor government’, The Australian reported.
In comparison, Foreign Minister Marise Payne has only met with Chinese officials twice since 2018, with her last sit down coming in January, 2020, before Beijing diplomats and embassy staff refused to answer the phone calls of Australian officials.
The diplomatic deep freeze came after the Morrison government called for an independent inquiry into the origins of the Covid pandemic in April, 2020.
Beijing reacted with fury to the suggestion of transparency, imposing arbitrary bans and tariffs on more than $20billion worth of key exports as punishment for speaking out.
But despite tensions soaring between the two nations, Mr Marles held meetings with Chinese officials – once in 2020 and twice in 2021.
Yet another sit down was also scheduled to go ahead in March 2022 with the new Chinese ambassador, Xiao Qian, but the meeting was postponed.
Sources revealed that the former deputy chair of the joint committee on intelligence and security, Anthony Byrne, and the late Kimberley Kitching, were among those who were alarmed.
A Chinese warship sails into Sydney Harbour on the eve of the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 2019
Beijing diplomats and embassy staff have refused to answer the phone calls of Australian officials since the Morrison government called for an independent inquiry into the Covid pandemic in April 2020 (pictured, Chinese President Xi Jinping)
Part of their initial concern focused on a speech he gave to the Beijing Foreign Studies University in 2019, where he said Australia must ‘respect China’.
The Chinese embassy organised the trip and demanded he clear his speech with Chinese officials in Canberra before letting him board the plane.
His address made no mention of the erosion of democratic freedoms in Hong Kong or the horrific treatment of the oppressed Uyghur population.
Daily Mail Australia has reached out to Mr Marles for comment.
His office told The Australian that Mr Marles always had staff members present for the meetings and was never alone when meeting with Chinese officials.
‘Mr Marles has always engaged in professional diplomacy both during his time as a minister and shadow minister- this is not a secret,’ a spokesperson said.
‘Desperate attempts by others to suggest otherwise, are now getting beyond the pale and don’t stand up to the facts.’
Labor’s Richard Marles even held talks with former ambassador Cheng Jingye (pictured), who kickstarted China’s campaign of economic coercion against Australia and penned the notorious list of 14 grievances
The revelations come after Australia’s top spy chief Mike Burgess warned in February there has been an ‘unprecedented’ threat of foreign espionage and interference in recent years.
The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) Director-General said several nations were working hard to influence lawmakers, government officials, media figures, business leaders and academics.
‘The level of threat we face from foreign espionage and interference activities is currently unprecedented,’ Burgess said in the agency’s annual threat assessment.
‘It is higher now than it was at the height of the Cold War.’
