Did Australia’s China paranoia make ‘spy’ Wang Liqiang’s claims too easy to believe?
- At first, his accounts of espionage and political sabotage were held up as proof of the country’s worst fears of Chinese meddling
- But as more information began to emerge, the would-be defector’s story has transformed into a cautionary tale on the dangers of rushing to judgment
But less than a fortnight later, Wang’s claims are increasingly being viewed not as proof of long-held concerns in a country transfixed by reports of Chinese meddling, but a cautionary tale about rushing to judgment and Sinophobia-tinged paranoia.
“It is a fact that Australian journalists, commentators and politicians more hawkish on China and more invested in the ‘China threat’ narrative were the ones breaking the Wang Liqiang story and talking it up,” said James Laurenceson, acting director of the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney.
“The Wang Liqiang story is just the latest example of claims running ahead of an evidence base in Australia.”
On Friday, the Sydney-based Daily Telegraph reported that Australian intelligence officials had briefed Prime Minister Scott Morrison on their assessment that Wang was not a Chinese spy “at a level that would attract any interest from Australia”.