SELDOM have Australia’s complex relations with China been more starkly exposed than in the agonies of Sam Dastyari, a prominent opposition MP. Three months ago Mr Dastyari gave a press conference with Huang Xiangmo, the head of Yuhu Group, a subsidiary of a property company linked to China’s government. Contradicting both the government’s line and the policy of his own party (Labor), Mr Dastyari called on Australia to “respect” China’s ill-founded territorial claims in the South China Sea, according to reports in the Chinese press. Mr Dastyari, it recently emerged, has accepted donations from Yuhu and from the Top Education Institute, a local firm run by a Chinese-Australian with close ties to both governments. Mr Dastyari used the money to pay for travel and legal advice. Yuhu also gave Mr Dastyari two bottles of Penfolds Grange, Australia’s most expensive wine, worth around A$800 ($600) a bottle. From the G20 summit in China, Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s prime minister, called Mr Dastyari’s remarks “cash for comment”.
On September 7th Mr Dastyari resigned as a party whip, but not as an MP. Although he admits that accepting the money was “a big...Continue reading
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