Maree Ma

GM of Vision Times Media Corporation (AU) - Australia's most widely circulated independent Chinese media.
Views my own. [email protected]

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

Vision Times 2017 special edition
The Giant Awakens: A collection of insights into Chn govt influence in AUS https://t.co/HSAUxBMFTK

[@mhar4 @mhar4]

In which the @abcnews Insiders panel suggests that in the Trump-Xi summit the US wanted China to open the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for allowing China to take over Taiwan.

One of those horrifying glimpses into the machinery of Australian public and media discourse.

[BBC News (World) @BBCWorld]

US citizen convicted of running secret Chinese 'police station' in NYC https://t.co/XZShmQ969j

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

@geoff_p_wade Well they did try to shoo the Australian journos out when Wong was speaking

[Geoff Wade @geoff_p_wade]

Australia: What has happened at the PRC embassy in Canberra? No English-language website updates since 1 April and only a 14 April reported interview with XIAO Qian on Chinese website
https://t.co/l7LjY5VZGh
https://t.co/vfSRNPFeB7

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

Penny Wong speech disrupted by Chinese officials attempting to remove Australian journalists. So much for a show of "conprehensive strategic partnership" from China's side 🤔

https://t.co/ail7d2Mvcn

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

Typical CCP carrot and stick approach. They will reward the government/party that supports (or have a softer attitude towards) them; vice versa, the party that is less friendly gets the stick. This is exactly what happened to the Liberal vs Labor government in Australia. The CCP wields trade as a political weapon.

[Financial Times @FT]

China open to Taiwanese TV and imports after opposition visit https://t.co/90Ltlb7sRL

[UN Watch @UNWatch]

No Joke: The U.N. has just elected 🇨🇳 China to its Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice.

China recently sentenced Hong Kong democracy activist Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison for criticizing the Chinese Communist Party.

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

I don't think this piece was well thought out and not the quality I would expect from @ASPI_org. What is your definition of "far right"? In my opinion, Australia has moved too far left in the past decade. The further you move left, the more you think groups like Pauline Hason is far right. At most, by standards a few decades ago, she is centre-right. And what is your definition of "illiberal"? US has always been the international police. Trump is unorthodox for sure and has really stirred the pot but hardly to the point of "illiberal". Americans have more liberty than Australians! Yes tariffs are a pain but Trump's international policy has been to cut lose freeloaders such as some European countries. This does not mean the US is turning on its allies. And don't get me started on NATO! Anyway, seems like he is withdrawing US from the international stage but he is only trying to protect American interests. Isn't that what Australia is also doing? Every country has the right to protect their own interests. For eg it's like having a friend who is super rich and is always buying dinner for his other friends and one day he stops doing it and want them to go dutch and these friends start to get angry and say that the rich guy is turning on them. I don't see US as an illiberal partner we can't rely on. We don't have another alternative and we need US to counterbalance China. Yes Trump has targetted Venezuela and Iran but what are they? Aren't these all dictatorships which are a threat to international order? I think he would do the same to China if he had the chance but China has too many powerful allies. And that would probably create WW3. Of course many Chinese are hoping he would make that move against Xi. Sorry I digress.

[Sarah Cook @Sarah_G_Cook]

New: Beijing's Foreign Influence Tactics, Hidden in Plain Sight

My latest piece is a rundown of key takeaways from recent reports by tech firms and policy researchers, outlining emerging tactics being used by the CCP and its proxies to shape foreign opinion and silence dissidents—including via paid social media influencers, fake LinkedIn profiles, and fabricated U.S. government documents.

According to OpenAI's latest report, a PRC user linked to Chinese law enforcement referenced “over 100 tactics” that had been developed to manipulate narratives and to silence, discredit or intimidate CCP critics. I highlight six, but two dynamics run through all of the examples in the article: the sheer scale of the operations and a consistent emphasis on obfuscation.

Full details via @Diplomat_APAC or at UnderReported China
https://t.co/SkJZxplPxw

[Dr. Ben Braddock @GraduatedBen]

What did y’all think “Year of the Horse” meant? gas? diesel?

[National Conservatives Australia @NatConOz]

Are "liberal values" all that binds Australia together? Or are there some ethnic, linguistic, and cultural components which need to be preserved for it to be still the same nation?

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

Had a few Chinese refugees contact us asking: can we have their spot? 😅

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

One of Iran's soccer player initially granted asylum by Australia appeared on Iranian state TV saying Australian police were asking strange questions (2:47), as if we scared her off from seeking asylum. Seriously? This is really playing into the hands of Iran's propaganda machine

[7NEWS Sydney @7NewsSydney]

Iran has issued a dire threat, warning tourist centres around the world will not be safe from their missile strikes, while the US is making confusing statements about sending in ground troops.

[Select Committee on China @ChinaSelect]

Beijing isn’t just participating at the @UN; it’s working to reshape it.

Our recent @ChinaSelect investigation found a systematic campaign by the Chinese Communist Party to expand influence through funding, personnel, and peacekeeping deployments tied to its strategic interests.

From surging financial leverage to embedding officials in key roles, the CCP is bending multilateral institutions to serve Beijing, not the global good.

The U.S. and our allies must lead with transparency, accountability, and strength to defend the integrity of the international system.

https://t.co/jPwyOjyWVh

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

@jiandie131 @TheHillsCouncil The council responded and claimed they did not know William Yu despite him appearing in VIP photos of the 2025 &2026 LNY events with the Mayor and other events as well. I don't think the council understands the intricacies of the Chinese community at all, unfortunately.

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

Sydney local council @TheHillsCouncil 's Castle Hill Lunar Street Festival 2026 partnered with William Yu (余俊武 Yu Junwu), a prominent figure in the Chinese Communist Party's United Front influence network, and his Huaxing Arts Troupe for this year's performances. Yu is a strong advocate for China reunification, saying that he uses arts and performances to promote Chinese culture, repay the motherland and achieve peaceful reunification.

The Hills LNY festival also featured a speech delivered by Sydney Chinese Consul General Wang Yu calling on the Hills district Chinese locals not to be misled by "wayward" and "radical" groups and that the Chinese Communist government is the one promoting true Chinese traditional culture (although he does not mention that the CCP denounced traditional Chinese culture and all religions in 1949 in order to solidify power which brought about the infamous decade long Cultural Revolution).

This LNY street festival was funded by taxpayers’ @nsw_olg @nswdphi Open Streets program, yet it features a non-local organization led by a prominent UFWD person who promotes the CCP’s political interests.

Yu is currently the president of the Australian Chinese Performing Artists Association (ACPAA), the leader and founder of the Sydney Huaxing Arts Troupe, a director of the Beijing Overseas Chinese Friendship Association, vice president of the Cultural Promotion Association of the All-China Federation of Returned Overseas Chinese, and a member of the Advisory Committee of the State Council Overseas Chinese Affairs Office. Yu and Huaxing Arts Troupe are also mentioned by @alexjoske as part of the overseas united front network in his 2020 research report “The party speaks for you: Foreign interference and the Chinese Communist Party’s united front system”.

Yu has a close VIP relationship with the Sydney Chinese Consul General Wang Yu, appearing at many Chinese Consulate events. Wang Yu also spoke at the Huaxing Arts Troupe’s 10th anniversary in 2025.

United Front Work Department (UFWD) acts directly under the Chinese Communist Party Central Committee and is a large clandescent Communist party web that infiltrates the Chinese diaspora around the world through forms of “cultural exchange”, art performances and various events. Yu’s profile is featured in Beijing’s UFWD website, emphasizing “unity” –--- very different to Australia’s values of diversity and harmony.

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

National oil stockpiles. Look who is last on the list 🥲

[Maree Ma @maree_jun]

Correction: William Yu's performance groups have not partnered with the Hills Shire Council this year, but they claim to have partnered and hosted the performances for the 2025 LNY festival in the Hills. For this year, they applied to perform.

[Select Committee on China @ChinaSelect]

The CCP’s new “ethnic unity” law is a cover up for the Party’s intensifying Orwellian campaign of total “Sinicization.”

It exposes the true aim of the CCP’s United Front strategy: total obedience and absolute subservience to the Party-State.

https://t.co/3kn1vJj2Bg

[Kevin Carrico @kevincarrico]

You know how we say South Korea and North Korea and no one loses their minds about it?

We can do the same when we talk about China and Taiwan.

It’s fine.

Don’t waste your time getting caught up in CCP verbal gymnastics.

[The Economist @TheEconomist]

Weaning the West off China’s cheap drones will take time. But Taiwan has made a flying start https://t.co/LnLMgxnRGa

Photo: Getty Images