Sheri Yan

Last updated
Shiwei Yan
Born1956
Anhui, China [1]
Other namesSheri Yan
SpouseRoger Uren
Children1

Shiwei 'Sheri' Yan (b. 1956), is an American socialite and author. She is known for her involvement in multiple intelligence-related scandals.

Contents

Early life

Yan was born in the Anhui province in 1956, living with her parents and brother in a writers' compound. [2] When Yan was 11 years old, her parents were sent to a re-education camp. At the age of 15, Yan joined cultural group run by the Red Guards, a student-led paramilitary social movement mobilized by Chairman Mao Zedong. She reunited with her family five years later. [1]

Career

Yan had studied to become a journalist, later working for the Communist Party’s propaganda outlet China National Radio in Beijing. In the 1980s, Yan flew to the US to work as a journalist and to learn English. Her mother had sown $400 into the lining of her jacket. [1] [3]

Yan had been previously hired by Bruce Dover, an executive at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, as a lobbyist for the purpose of expanding the company's presence in China. [4]

In 2012, Yan created a non-governmental organization, named the Global Sustainability Foundation (GSF). Former Australian chairman of law firm Freehills, Ian Hutchison, was GSF’s ‘‘Vice Chairman of the Board’’ and Australia’s former New York consul general, Phil Scanlan, was a GSF board adviser. Former United Nations (UN) General Assembly president John William Ashe was a notable backer of the organization. [1] The NGO had previously received UN accreditation. [1]

While on bail, Yan began working with Children of Promise, a Brooklyn-based charity for the children of incarcerated parents. She turned their art lessons into a book called Art from the Heart to showcase the charity’s work. After she left prison, Yan became the executive director of the charity. [3]

Yan wrote an autobiography The Halfway House (2019), [3] in Chinese which sold out. Presently, there are discussions about writing an English language translation.

Investigations

Yan and her husband Roger Uren, a former Office of National Assessments (ONA) official, were investigated by ASIO on suspicion of spying for China. [5] Uren, former Assistant Secretary responsible for the Asia section of ONA, was found to have removed documents pertaining to Chinese intelligence operations in Australia, and kept them in his apartment. [5] Yan was suspected of undertaking influence operations on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party, and introducing Colonel Liu Chaoying, a military intelligence officer, to Australian contacts. [5] [6] [7]

In 2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) alleged Yan, [1] an Australian-Chinese suspected by Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) of Chinese intelligence activity, bribed the former president of the United Nations General Assembly, John Ashe. She allegedly used A$200,000 of Chau Chak Wing's money to bribe Ashe to attend a conference held at Chau's Imperial Springs resort in China. [8] [9] Yan disclosed that she and others had paid Mr. Ashe to help promote business ventures from “which we intended to profit” beginning in 2012. [2] Yan plead guilty to bribery charges and served a 20-month prison sentence, however denied that she was spying on behalf of the Chinese government. [3] [2] [10] [11] 5 other charges were dropped as part of the guilty plea. [3] Greg Rudd, a political lobbyist and brother of former Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, endorsed Yan's character, which was used to seek a reduced jail sentence. [4]

Personal life

Yan was previously married before leaving China for the United States. She later married Roger Uren, an Australian diplomat who at the time was writing a book about Kang Sheng. In 1996, they had a daughter. [1]

Related Research Articles

The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation is Australia's national security agency responsible for the protection of the country and its citizens from espionage, sabotage, acts of foreign interference, politically motivated violence, attacks on the Australian defence system, and terrorism. ASIO is part of the Australian Intelligence Community and is comparable to the FBI (US) and MI5 (UK).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Office of National Assessments</span> Australian former intelligence agency

The Office of National Assessments (ONA) was an Australian statutory intelligence agency established by the Office of National Assessments Act 1977 as an independent statutory body directly accountable to the Prime Minister of Australia as a portfolio agency of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. ONA provided all-source assessments on international political, strategic and economic developments to the Prime Minister and the National Security Committee of Cabinet. ONA also played a coordination role in the Australian Intelligence Community through evaluating foreign intelligence products, convening the National Intelligence Coordination Committee, and developing relationships with intelligence agencies around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Petrov Affair</span> Cold War spy incident in Australia

The Petrov Affair was a Cold War spy incident in Australia, concerning the defection of Vladimir Petrov, a KGB officer, from the Soviet embassy in Canberra in 1954. The defection led to a Royal Commission and the resulting controversy contributed to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China</span> Hong Kong pro-democracy organisation

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China was a pro-democracy organisation that was established on 21 May 1989 in the then British colony of Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in Beijing. After the 4 June massacre, the organisation main goals were the rehabilitation of the democracy movement and the accountability for the massacre. The main activities the organisation held were the annual memorials and commemorations, of which the candlelight vigil in Victoria Park was the most attended, reported and discussed event each year. Due to its stance, the Central government in Beijing considers the organisation subversive.

The Government of China is engaged in espionage overseas, directed through diverse methods via the Ministry of State Security (MSS), the Ministry of Public Security (MPS), the United Front Work Department (UFWD), People's Liberation Army (PLA) via its Intelligence Bureau of the Joint Staff Department, and numerous front organizations and state-owned enterprises. It employs a variety of tactics including cyber espionage to gain access to sensitive information remotely, signals intelligence, human intelligence as well as influence operations through united front activity targeting overseas Chinese communities and associations. The Chinese government is also engaged in industrial espionage aimed at gathering information and technology to bolster its economy, as well as transnational repression of dissidents abroad such as supporters of the Tibetan independence movement and Uyghurs as well as the Taiwan independence movement, the Hong Kong independence movement, Falun Gong, pro-democracy activists, and other critics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The United States alleges that the degree of intelligence activity is unprecedented in its assertiveness and engagement in multiple host countries, particularly the United States, with economic damages estimated to run into the hundreds of billions according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

The Australian Intelligence Community (AIC) and the National Intelligence Community (NIC) or National Security Community of the Australian Government are the collectives of statutory intelligence agencies, policy departments, and other government agencies concerned with protecting and advancing the national security and national interests of the Commonwealth of Australia. The intelligence and security agencies of the Australian Government have evolved since the Second World War and the Cold War and saw transformation and expansion during the Global War on Terrorism with military deployments in Afghanistan, Iraq and against ISIS in Syria. Key international and national security issues for the Australian Intelligence Community include terrorism and violent extremism, cybersecurity, transnational crime, the rise of China, and Pacific regional security.

Johnny Chien Chuen Chung was a major figure in the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liu Chaoying</span> Chinese businesswoman

Liu Chaoying (劉超英), or Helen Liu, is a former executive at China Aerospace International Holdings which is the Hong Kong subsidiary of China's premier satellite developer, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (中國航天科技集團公司). She is a Lt. Col. in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) of China. Liu played a major role in the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy.

Philip Dorling is a writer and journalist who has also served as an Australian public servant and political adviser. He is a visiting fellow at the School of Humanities and Social Science, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy.

<i>ICAC Investigators 2007</i> Hong Kong TV series or program

ICAC Investigators 2007 is the 2007 installment of the ICAC Investigator series, produced by Hong Kong Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) and TVB. It is broadcast on TVB Jade channel. Each criminal case is based on actual cases investigated by the ICAC.

<i>Law Enforcers</i> 2001 Hong Kong action crime thriller television series

Law Enforcers is a 2001 Hong Kong action crime thriller television series produced by TVB and starring Roger Kwok, Fennie Yuen and Nick Cheung. It was released overseas in June 2001 and premiered on TVB Jade on 24 December 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Australia–East Timor spying scandal</span> 2004 bugging of East Timor PMs office

The Australia–East Timor spying scandal began in 2004 when the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS) clandestinely planted covert listening devices in a room adjacent to the East Timor (Timor-Leste) Prime Minister's Office at Dili, to obtain information in order to ensure Australia held the upper hand in negotiations with East Timor over the rich oil and gas fields in the Timor Gap. Even though the East Timor government was unaware of the espionage operation undertaken by Australia, negotiations were hostile. The first Prime Minister of East Timor, Mari Alkatiri, bluntly accused the Howard government of plundering the oil and gas in the Timor Sea, stating:

"Timor-Leste loses $1 million a day due to Australia's unlawful exploitation of resources in the disputed area. Timor-Leste cannot be deprived of its rights or territory because of a crime."

Nick McKenzie is an Australian investigative journalist. He has won 14 Walkley Awards, been twice named the Graham Perkin Australian Journalist of the Year and also received the Kennedy Award for Journalist of the Year in 2020 and 2022. He is the president of the Melbourne Press Club.

David Ng Lap Seng is a Macau-based Chinese billionaire real estate businessman, chairman of the Sun Kian Ip Group (新建业集团). He is a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Chau Chak-wing, is a Chinese-Australian property developer known for his Kingold Group business based in Guangzhou, People's Republic of China (PRC). Journalists and think tanks have reported on Chau's links to Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entities and interests throughout his career.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antipodean Resistance</span> Australian neo-Nazi hate group

Antipodean Resistance (AR) is an Australian neo-Nazi hate group. The group, formed in October 2016, uses the slogan "We're the Hitlers you've been waiting for" and makes use of Nazi symbols such as the swastika and the Nazi salute. AR's logo features the Black Sun and Totenkopf with an Akubra hat, a laurel wreath and a swastika.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gladys Liu</span> Hong Kong-born Australian politician

Gladys Liu is a Hong Kong-born Australian former politician, who represented the Division of Chisholm in Victoria for the Liberal Party of Australia from her election in May 2019 to her defeat at the 2022 Australian federal election. Liu was the first ethnically Chinese woman ever elected to the House, defeating the Australian Labor Party's Jennifer Yang. Liu was defeated by Carina Garland in the 2022 Australian federal election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 Australian Parliament infiltration plot</span>

In late 2019, various media outlets around the world reported on alleged efforts by the People's Republic of China to infiltrate the Parliament of Australia by recruiting a spy to run in the Division of Chisholm in Melbourne during the 2019 Australian federal election.

Roger T. Uren is an Australian author and former diplomat who previously served as an Office of National Assessments official.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 McKenzie, Nick; Allen-Ebrahimian, Bethany; Hunter, Fergus (November 11, 2018). "Beijing's secret plot to infiltrate UN used Australian insider".
  2. 1 2 3 Weiser, Benjamin (20 January 2016). "Executive in U.N. Corruption Case Pleads Guilty". New York Times.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Needham, Kirsty (14 April 2019). "Woman accused of being Chinese influence agent tells her story for the first time". The Sydney Morning Herald .
  4. 1 2 Baker, Richard; McKenzie, Nick (29 July 2017). "Charges loom for ex-intelligence official Roger Uren after ASIO raid". afr.com.
  5. 1 2 3 McKenzie, Nick; Flitton, Daniel; Uhlmann, Chris; Baker, Richard (5 June 2017). "Secret ASIO raid uncovered classified documents in power couple's Canberra apartment". Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 5 June 2017.
  6. ↑ McKenzie, Nick; Baker, Richard (29 July 2017). "Charges loom for ex-intelligence official Roger Uren after ASIO raid". Sydney Morning Herald . Archived from the original on 31 July 2017. Retrieved 29 July 2017. Fairfax Media has confirmed one of Yan's contacts was a Chinese military intelligence operative and reputed arms broker, Colonel Liu Chaoying. Yan introduced Colonel Liu to her Australian network, including a wealthy Australian businessman who took Colonel Liu on several dinner dates.
  7. ↑ Australian Associated Press (5 June 2017). "Canberra couple subject of ASIO raid". Yahoo News. Archived from the original on 5 June 2017. A Fairfax Media and Four Corners investigation reports the raid targeted Sheri Yan and former Australian diplomat Roger Uren, over allegations she was involved in operations for the Chinese Communist Party.
  8. ↑ "ASIO warns political parties over foreign donations". ABC News . 2017-06-05. Archived from the original on 6 June 2017. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
  9. ↑ "Chau v Australian Broadcasting Corporation (No 3) [2021] FCA 44 (2 February 2021)". Federal Court of Australia. p. Section 20.
  10. ↑ Melendez, Pilar; Ferrigno, Lorenzo (21 January 2016). "Foundation founder's guilty plea: I helped fund U.N. official's extravagant life". CNN.
  11. ↑ French, Lauren (21 January 2016). "Executive Pleads Guilty Helping Pay for U.N. Official's Lavish Lifestyle". Time.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.