Australian lawmaker Sam Dastyari resigns roles over dealings with Chinese businessman
Government lawmakers called on Dastyari to quit Parliament because he had been prepared to help a foreign national avoid Australian security surveillance
An Australian lawmaker resigned from his leadership roles in the opposition party on Thursday over scandals involving a wealthy Chinese businessman and political donor that have raised accusations of China buying influence.
Senator Sam Dastyari had been deputy whip in the centre-left Labor Party and chairman of a parliamentary committee examining the future of journalism before resigning over his dealings with Chinese Communist Party-linked businessman Huang Xiangmo.
Fairfax Media reported this week that Dastyari gave Huang counter-surveillance advice when they met at the businessman’s Sydney mansion in October last year. Dastyari suggested the pair leave their phones inside the house and go outside to speak in case Australian intelligence services were listening, Fairfax reported.
Dastyari has not denied the reports but said he had no knowledge about whether Huang was under Australian surveillance at the time.
Opposition leader Bill Shorten demanded Dastyari’s resignation from his leadership roles late Wednesday after media broadcast audio of the senator misleading Chinese journalists last year on the Labor Party’s policy on the South China Sea territorial disputes.
I find the inferences that I’m anything but a patriotic Australian deeply hurtful
Australia maintains that China should respect international law, and an arbitration ruling last year found China’s broad claims to the sea were legally baseless. But Dastyari told Chinese reporters at a news conference in Sydney attended by Huang that Australia should observe “several thousand years of history” by respecting Chinese claims over most of the South China Sea. The phrasing mirrors China’s stance.