Chinese officials are accused of harassing and intimidating pro-democracy activists who gathered in Perth last week for a nighttime vigil to commemorate the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.
Organisers of the June 4 event, claim the alleged foreign interference by the local consulate even included the family of one participant being threatened by police back in China.
“An official who we believe is a consulate employee turned up to the vigil, taking photos without permission and he also harassed participants by asking them for their IDs,” an attendee at the gathering told The Nightly, speaking anonymously over fears of possible reprisals.
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“One of the intruders was a true predator and he had no intention of hiding his hideous behaviour. He walked up to a female participant and said in Mandarin, ‘You are new. I haven’t seen you before. What is your name? Can I see your driver’s licence?’”
“The woman ignored him, and he said, ‘You don’t speak Mandarin, do you. Are you from Hong Kong?’,” the attendee recounted after witnessing the interaction.
Event organiser Richard Lue confirmed he reported the “suspected Chinese consulate coordinated threatening and foreign interference” to the National Security Hotline on Monday.
“Some participants are getting threats from Chinese government, and more people are likely are going to be affected. A number of Chinese (figures) were constantly taking photos of participants during the rally,” his formal complaint reads.
“Some of them explicitly talking to participants asking for photo IDs like driving licence. The next day, at least one of participants who holds Australian PR (permanent residency) were intimidated. His family were visited by Chinese local police. Although he was wearing a face mask all the time during the event, he was still identified.”
“Due to the timely manner when participants are getting threatened by Chinese local police, there is clear link between Chinese consulate involvement in this matter,” the statement notes. Last Thursday evening more than 50 people are believed to have attended the gathering in Perth’s Murray Street Mall to remember the hundreds of protesters killed during Beijing’s brutal 1989 crackdown.
A gathering in Perth’s Murray Street Mall on June 4 to remember victims of China’s Tiananmen square massacre. Credit: Unknown/Supplied
Several guest speakers were invited to address the event for a discussion on “the threat of an authoritarian China” including WA One Nation MLC Phil Scott who reminded attendees of the importance of defending democracy worldwide.
The Nightly has approached the Chinese embassy in Canberra, as well as its consulate in Perth for comment, but has not received a response to questions about last week’s alleged harassment.
The Department of Home Affairs which oversees the National Security Hotline referred all questions to the Australian Federal Police, but a spokesperson told The Nightly “the AFP has no comment”.
A WA Police spokesperson referred all questions about the alleged Chinese harassment of vigil participants to Federal authorities.
Six years ago Perth’s Chinese consulate was also accused of monitoring and recording an anti-Beijing rally held outside Western Australia’s Parliament House, as part of the first public commemoration of the Tiananmen Square Massacre to be held in the state.
Earlier this year two Chinese nationals were charged with alleged foreign interference, accused of covertly collecting information about a Buddhist group, on behalf of Beijing’s security services.
The alleged activity which occurred in Canberra was the second instance of Chinese nationals being charged under foreign interference laws that Australia introduced in 2018.
A member of Chinese consulate monitors the gathering in Perth. Credit: Unknown/Supplied
Following the arrests in February, ASIO Director-General Mike Burgess said foreign interference remained one of Australia’s principal security concerns.
“A complex, challenging and changing security environment is becoming more dynamic, diverse and degraded,” Mr Burgess warned.
“Multiple foreign regimes are monitoring, harassing and intimidating members of our diaspora communities. This sort of behaviour is utterly unacceptable and cannot be tolerated.”
Last week US Secretary of State Marco Rubio took aim at Beijing’s efforts to hide evidence of the Tiananmen Square massacre, telling reporters that “no amount of censorship can erase the past”.
“Those who sacrificed to uphold their unalienable rights of free expression and peaceful assembly will be vindicated someday,” he said.
China’s foreign ministry hit back at Mr Rubio, saying it firmly opposed his comments.
“The Chinese Government has long since reached a clear conclusion regarding that political turmoil that occurred in the late 1980s,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular news briefing.
