A Chinese citizen with permanent residency in Australia was charged on Monday with covertly gathering information on an Australian Buddhist group and passing it along to the Public Security Bureau of China.
The defendant is the third person to be charged under Australia’s 2017 law against foreign interference, and the first to be charged with targeting “members of the Australian community.”
“Foreign interference is a serious crime that undermines democracy and social cohesion. It is a crime carried out by or on behalf of a foreign principal that involves covert and deceptive conduct or threats of serious harm or menacing demands,” said Australian Federal Police Assistant Commissioner Stephen Nutt.
The identity of the defendant was not made public due to a court order. Police said she was arrested at her home and charged in a Canberra court with spying on the local branch of Guan Yin Citta Dharma Door, a Buddhist group that has been banned in Communist China. The suspect could face up to 15 years in prison.
Guan Yin Citta is an offbeat sect founded by a Chinese-born Australian Buddhist named Lu Junhong, who died in 2021. Lu’s unusual practices were criticized by some other Buddhists, but he amassed a substantial worldwide following.
In China, where religion is harshly regulated by the authoritarian government, Guan Yin Citta was branded an “evil cult” or xie jiao – the same designation applied to the suppressed religion of Falun Gong. There is some documentary evidence that Beijing considers Guan Yin Citta to be even more of a threat than Falun Gong.
The Communist regime was evidently nervous about Guan Yin Citta’s growing popularity in China, so it pressured Buddhist organizations within China’s sphere of influence to denounce Guan Yin Citta as inauthentic Buddhism, paving the way for Chinese officials to stamp it out. A significant number of practitioners have been arrested since Lu Junhong’s death, but since they avoid the sort of public activities that draw attention to Falun Gong, it is difficult for the authorities to locate and arrest them.
Australian officials did not reveal why the defendant was gathering information on Guan Yin Citta in Canberra, or speculate on what the Chinese government intended to do with the information she gathered. Nutt suggested the situation might have something to do with growing tensions in the Asia-Pacific theater.
“At a time of permanent regional contest, offenders will attempt to spy on individuals, groups and institutions in Australia,” he said.
Mike Burgess, Director-General of the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO), promised Australia would show “zero tolerance” for foreign espionage.
“Anyone who thinks it is acceptable to monitor, intimidate and potentially repatriate members of our diaspora communities should never underestimate our capabilities and resolve,” he said.
Australia introduced strict laws against foreign political interference in 2017, during a time of high tensions with China. The laws outraged Beijing, which insisted it never interferes in the politics of foreign governments or conducts espionage activities.
Only two people were charged with crimes under the news laws between 2017 and 2025: a Vietnamese-born businessman in Melbourne accused of trying to influence the federal government on behalf of China, and a Sydney businessman charged with taking payments from Chinese spies. None of their activities targeted members of the general public, as the Chinese woman arrested on Saturday allegedly did.
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