EGN NEWS DESK
Not lengthy after we first met, the person mentioned that if Australia was in search of Chinese spies, he was simply the kind of particular person they’d be — however the authorities would by no means “dare say I’m Chinese intelligence.”
Given the anti-China fervor in Australia, he acknowledged he may come off as suspicious. So why would he not get into hassle with the authorities? He believed that it could be embarrassing for Australia to accuse of him of spying as a result of he had been an lively member of a serious political party.
His confidence was absolute, and completely misplaced. Less than two years later, in 2020, he grew to become the primary particular person to be charged beneath Australia’s broad international interference legal guidelines. He was accused of performing on behalf of Beijing.
Who was the suspect?
Di Sanh “Sunny” Duong, 68, was born and raised in Vietnam. He was among the many a whole bunch of 1000’s of ethnic Chinese who fled that nation within the Nineteen Seventies. He settled in Australia and grew a enterprise making tombstones, secured a middle-class life and bought enmeshed in native Chinese neighborhood teams.
I first interviewed him in 2019 and rapidly realized that Mr. Duong was susceptible to boasting — about his travels, about his household and about his standing in society, a lot in order that it was troublesome to take him significantly.
What did he do?
The case towards Mr. Duong was not about what he did, however what he was planning on doing. Mr. Duong had ties with the Chinese Communist Party, prosecutors mentioned. He had invited an Australian authorities minister to a charity occasion, they added, with the intention of sometime attempting to affect him on behalf of Beijing.
During the trial, the jury was introduced with two variations of Mr. Duong: Was he a savvy operator pushing China’s agenda in Australia, because the prosecution would have it, or was he, because the protection claimed, a bombastic braggart?
What was the decision?
Mr. Duong didn’t testify in courtroom. But whereas the trial was underway, he met me, at a pub a stone’s throw from the courthouse, to share his story.
He gave outlandish and convoluted causes for the actions that prosecutors constructed their case round. One head-spinning episode concerned how Mr. Duong thought he was interacting with a Chinese intelligence officer however later concluded, because of a TV present, that the official was not a spy. One factor was clear: Mr. Duong remained adamant that he by no means did something towards Australian pursuits.
The jury disagreed. In December, he was discovered responsible of getting ready for or planning an act of international interference. Late final month, a judge sentenced him to 2 years and 9 months in jail. Mr. Duong is predicted to serve a 12 months behind bars.
