If at first you don't succeed ...

Well, surprise, surprise. Someone doing business in China had dealings with people who were connected with the governing Communist Party. As if there was any other way! And some of those dreaded communists were part of the military establishment. Given that the People's Army is a major owner of Chinese enterprises, the amazing thing about anyone seriously trying to deal in that country would be that they didn't. 
And so the Melbourne Age's investigative team goes on with its series of articles quoting unnamed Defence Department officials concerned about Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon's relationship with businesswoman Helen Liu who they believe has had links with China's military intelligence agency. This morning's rewrite contains but one new addition to the conspiracy theory from the paper's informant suggesting that Australia's security is somehow at risk:

The official said he and his associates were struck by apparent parallels between Ms Liu and Katrina Leung, a Chinese-American businesswoman who over almost 20 years operated as a double agent for the Chinese Ministry of State Security and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

In 2003, Ms Leung was acquitted of espionage in the US. She was later convicted of a tax-related offence.

Ms Liu a double agent. Now that's an interesting twist. Perhaps Joel Fitzgibbon was her ASIS controller and the Labor Party is infiltrated from the top down by a shady Australian intelligence service. That'll be a good read. I can't wait for the next Age instalment.

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