AFP, SYDNEYChina wants to “take over” Australia’s political system with an “insidious” and systematic campaign of espionage and influence peddling, Canberra’s former spymaster warned in an interview published yesterday. Lewis singled out incidents of Chinese agents making large contributions to Australian political parties as part of a wide-ranging influence-peddling campaign that also targeted media and the country’s universities. I’m not trying to create paranoia, but there does need to be a level of sensible awareness,” Lewis said. Keating has branded Australia’s security agencies “nutters” for their allegedly hawkish stance on China and slammed the “pious,” “do-gooder” media for sensationalist reporting on Chinese influence operations. The effects in Australia have long concerned the White House, which has repeatedly warned Canberra against being complacent.

Source: Taipei Times November 22, 2019 16:07 UTC