New court documents have revealed alleged WeChat messages between three Chinese Australians accused of foreign interference. The trio, two women and a man, are charged with spying on a local Buddhist group, Guan Yin Citta, which is banned in China. They are expected to plead not guilty, with their cases returning to court later this year.
The police case relies heavily on WeChat communications between the accused and an official from China's Public Security Bureau. According to the documents, the older woman first contacted the other two from China in May 2022, outlining tasks to gather information on the Buddhist group. The man asked what topics to investigate, and the woman replied, 'All of them.'
The group was asked to investigate the response to the 2021 death of Guan Yin Citta's leader, Richard Jin Hong Lu. They also looked into the group's media company, Oriental TV and Radio. One accused, Suri Zheng, allegedly used ASIC documents to identify the company's owners. The messages showed the Chinese contact urged the group to find street addresses for people linked to the Buddhist group.
Police allege the group gathered information from open sources, including SBS Chinese programs. When the 37-year-old woman returned to Australia, she allegedly told her contact that the Buddhist group had set up in Canberra. The contact urged her to join the group and climb its hierarchy, describing the operation as 'a bit of a spy thriller.'
After a police search but before her arrest, the 37-year-old was recorded telling a business associate that someone asked her to use Google because it was inconvenient in China. The 25-year-old man allegedly told police, 'If I was asked to get some information from online, I would just do it.' All three are on bail and have indicated not guilty pleas.
