Not lengthy after we first met, the person mentioned that if Australia was on the lookout for Chinese language spies, he was simply the kind of particular person they’d be taking a look at — however the authorities would by no means “dare say I’m Chinese language intelligence.”
Given the anti-China fervor in Australia, he acknowledged he might 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 social gathering.
His confidence was absolute, and totally misplaced. Lower than two years later, in 2020, he turned 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 hundreds of ethnic Chinese language who fled that nation within the Seventies. He settled in Australia and grew a enterprise making tombstones, secured a middle-class life and received enmeshed in native Chinese language group teams.
I first interviewed him in 2019 and shortly 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 tough to take him severely.
What did he do?
The case in opposition to Mr. Duong was not about what he did, however what he was planning on doing. Mr. Duong had ties with the Chinese language Communist Occasion, 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.
In the course of 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 court docket. However 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 language 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 in opposition to Australian pursuits.
The jury disagreed. In December, he was discovered responsible of making ready for or planning an act of international interference. Late final month, a choose sentenced him to 2 years and 9 months in jail. Mr. Duong is anticipated to serve a 12 months behind bars.
