Here’s a report on a political funding scandal in
Australia which exposes the true hypocricy of America.
Australia – September 2016
Last week Australian Labor senator Sam Dastyari's resigned
from the opposition frontbench following revelations he asked a Chinese
businessman to pay a AUD$1,670 (US$1,250) travel bill after he exceeded his
parliamentary entitlement for travel. This has led to howls of protest from departing
US ambassador to Australia, John Berry. Read the story here. This is what US Ambassador Berry said:
In our country it’s illegal. It would be
against the law for any foreign donation to be accepted by any level of
government or member of government
We cannot conceive of a case where a
foreign donation from any government, friend or foe, would be considered
legitimate in terms of that democracy
Hong Kong –
October 2014
The National
Endowment for Democracy (NED) is funded by the US Government. Two years ago, in
October 2014 Louisa Coan Greve of the NED admitted in an interview the US
Government had been funding Hong Kong politician LEE Cheuk-yan for years. Read the VOA story here. Here are highlights from her interview:
NED has been
funding democracy-promotion programs in Hong Kong for about two decades with
grants totaling several million dollars.
Lee Cheuk-yan
is one such activist. He leads the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions
(HKCTU) and serves in the Legislative Council as a lawmaker for the Labor
Party.
Solidarity
Center (an NED affiliate) has given the bulk of its funds to HKCTU
NED's support
to Solidarity Center, and Solidarity Center support to HKCTU is completely
separate from Lee Cheuk-yan's political work [as a lawmaker], which is a
separate role that he plays, and the money doesn't mix between the two
Comment
So it’s OK for the
US Government to corruptly fund politicians in Hong Kong, wrong for a Chinese
businessman to fund an Australian politician and it’s illegal for a foreigner to
fund a politician in America.
Isn’t it about
time we had similar laws in Hong Kong – actually we would have, if the American
Government hadn’t paid LEE Cheuk-yan to organize the Article 23 protests.
Supporting
information
 |
| Departing US ambassador to Australia, John Berry commenting on political funding in Australia |
 |
| Louisa Coan Greve, who boasted about channeling US Government funds to Hong Kong politician LEE Cheuk-yan |
 |
| Hong Kong politician LEE Cheuk-yan, who received milllions of Hong Kong dollars from the US Government during his time as a legislator |
 |
| VOA article, in which Louisa Coan Greve boasted about channeling US Government funds to Hong Kong politician LEE Cheuk-yan |
 |
| LEE Cheuk-yan admits to receiving milllions of Hong Kong dollars from the US Government, but claims its not connected to his political work |
 |
| Louisa Coan Greve claims the US Government funds given to Hong Kong politician LEE Cheuk-yan, were totally separate from his political work. |
References
The Australian. US alarm at Chinese donations. Link: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/foreign-affairs/us-alarm-at-chinese-donations-ambassador-john-berry/news-story/43f18321151caad2de1afafd45aa72fe
VOA Exclusive: US Democracy Group Rebuts Hong Kong
Meddling Allegations. 23 October 2014. Link: http://www.voanews.com/content/voa-exclusive-us-democracy-group-rebuts-hong-kong-meddling-allegations/2493257.html
See also:
US ‘surprised’ at Chinese influence-buying in Australia.
Link: https://www.hongkongfp.com/2016/09/14/us-surprised-at-chinese-influence-buying-in-australia/
No comments:
Post a Comment