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SYDNEY—In a daybreak raid in June, federal police searched the house of an Australian state opposition lawmaker in Sydney. That identical day, in reference to the identical investigation, authorities seized the computer systems and telephones of 4 journalists working for Chinese information organizations.
China launched particulars of the raids on its journalists final week after Australia pulled two of its journalists out of China, shedding additional gentle on the mounting tensions between Australia and China that led as much as the diplomatic standoff over the 2 males.
The searches by Australian authorities had been half of an investigation into doable Chinese overseas interference, based on court docket paperwork.
There have been long-simmering considerations in Canberra over the potential for Chinese interference within the home affairs of Australia, which has shut financial ties with China. Those considerations partially led to the adoption in 2018 of foreign-interference legal guidelines that established prolonged jail phrases for covert or misleading actions which might be deemed makes an attempt to affect Australia’s home affairs. China denies that it interferes within the affairs of overseas nations.
Tensions between the 2 nations have reached new heights in latest months after Australia started searching for help from European leaders for an investigation of missteps by China that contributed to the coronavirus pandemic, which unfold extensively first within the Chinese metropolis of Wuhan.
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