Australian police seized the communications of top Chinese diplomats and named a Chinese consular official in a warrant as part of an investigation into political interference, in the months before a crackdown on Australians in China.
The complaints accuse the ABF and AFP of breaching two of the most sacred international treaties enshrined in Australian law — the Vienna conventions on diplomatic and consular relations — under which communications of diplomatic officials are off limits to domestic authorities.
As a leader of some of Australia's most influential pro-Beijing groups, Mr Zhang has made no secret of his close relationships with China's embassy in Canberra and its Sydney consulate, and has boasted in media articles of his ties with Australia's political elite.Mr Zhang could face up to 15 years in jail if charged and convicted of foreign interference.
China News Service's Australia bureau chief Tao Shelan and China Radio International's Sydney bureau chief Li Dayong. A separate search warrant executed on NSW Parliament in June identifies prominent Shanghai-based academic Professor Chen Hong, a leading Chinese Government-aligned critic of Australia's foreign policy, as another suspected co-conspirator.
Mr Zhang has sent complaints to Foreign Minister Marise Payne, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton and Attorney-General Christian Porter, alleging the ABF unlawfully downloaded his communications from his laptops and phones at the airport as part of the investigation.
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