Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo stripped of Australian residency, banned from returning over ‘political interference’ concerns

Huang Xiangmo – a property developer who has donated millions to Australia’s two main political parties – is at the centre of political interference concerns

He is under scrutiny for alleged links to a Communist Party-linked body accused of neutralising opposition and buying political influence around the world

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New Australian laws have strained relations with Beijing, which dismissed the claims of meddling as hysteria and paranoia. Photo: Handout

Agence France-PresseandSarah Zhengin Beijing

Published: 1:35pm, 6 Feb 2019Updated: 9:59am, 7 Feb 2019

A prominent Chinese billionaire political donor has been stripped of his Australian residency and barred from returning to the country after his Communist Party ties came under scrutiny, local media reported on Wednesday.

Officials in Australia denied Sydney resident Huang Xiangmo a passport, rejecting his application to become an Australian citizen and cancelling his permanent residency, leaving him stranded in Beijing, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age newspapers reported.

Huang, who has been at the centre of a spate of political interference concerns, has donated millions to Australia’s two main political parties and been photographed with key figures including former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull and opposition leader Bill Shorten.

But he has come under scrutiny for alleged links to the United Front Work Department – a Chinese Communist Party-linked body accused of neutralising opposition and buying political influence around the world.

Huang Xiangmo in 2016 with then Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull. Photo: Handout

Chinese analysts said the case reflected deep suspicions about the Chinese Communist Party both in Australia and globally.

“In general, this type of problem will emerge again and again, since it has to do with the ruling party’s ideology,” Pang Zhongying, a professor of international relations at the Ocean University of China in Qingdao, said.