August 1, 2023
Liberal senator James Paterson has accused the Chinese embassy of complaining to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about a Senate inquiry into foreign interference on social media probing the influence of WeChat.
The Australian can reveal an official from DFAT’s China external and co-ordination branch emailed Senator Paterson’s committee secretariat seeking clarification about the parliament’s powers to compel foreign actors to front public hearings.
The official questioned if it was accurate to say Chinese social media giant WeChat’s refusal to appear at the senate hearing “demonstrated contempt”.
The select committee on foreign interference through social media will release its final report on Tuesday after a wide-ranging inquiry hearing evidence from tech giants and security experts on the espionage risk from foreign actors operating on social media.
WeChat was the only platform that declined to appear and refused multiple requests to front the committee or answer written questions.
Senator Paterson, a prominent critic of China and national security hawk, said the complaint confirmed the Chinese government’s influence over the social media service and warned that Beijing’s “displeasure” would not deter the parliament from pursuing them.
“It says everything you need to know about WeChat’s close connections to the Chinese Communist Party that China’s embassy has been complaining to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about a senate committee seeking entirely legitimate information about the operation of an app with hundreds of thousands of Australian users,” Senator Paterson told The Australian. “The Chinese government’s displeasure with the work of the select committee will not deter us from completing our important work.”
The DFAT official also asked the secretariat to clarify the committee’s powers to compel foreign entities to appear before the senate or answer questions.
“Thanks for speaking with me earlier and confirming that the select committee on foreign interference through social media is unable to compel foreign entities to participate in a hearing, nor answer questions in writing,” the DFAT official said in the email.
“One additional detail that would (be) helpful to know is how best to characterise a decision by a foreign company not to participate in a hearing. We have seen suggestions that declining to participate in a hearing would ‘demonstrate contempt’ for parliament and would welcome confirmation of if this is accurate.”
Throughout the inquiry, senators heard expert evidence that WeChat engages in surveillance, censorship and foreign interference on its platform.
In the public hearings, Senator Paterson said WeChat had “demonstrated contempt for the parliament of Australia” by declining to front the inquiry.
The Senate has powers to compel witnesses to attend a public hearing, though they do not apply extra-territorially. WeChat has no Australian-based employees, which meant the committee was unable to compel the platform to participate.
The report’s release comes as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese weighs an invitation to visit China later this year, as the two governments work to dismantle coercive trade sanctions imposed on Australian goods by Beijing.
China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian said relations between the two countries were at a “critical juncture” recently and called on the Albanese government to “stay on the right path to get along”.
Social media giants Meta – which owns Facebook and Instagram – Twitter, TikTok, Google and YouTube fronted the committee during the inquiry.
The Australian spokeswoman for China-based platform TikTok, Ella Woods-Joyce, repeatedly evaded senators’ questions about the company’s ties to Beijing and denied the video-sharing app had been asked to supply users’ data.
However, Senator Paterson pointed out this would be in breach of Chinese law.
Senator Paterson sent a list of more than 50 detailed questions to WeChat asking if it had any Chinese Communist Party members on its board, if it censors criticism of the Chinese government or cooperates with Australian authorities in relation to foreign interference or espionage offences conducted on the platform.
