Material on Dr Chau Chak Wing from Honest History website (honesthistory.net.au)

The War Memorial and Dr Chau Chak Wing [13 June 2017 updated]

The ABC’s Four Corners last week said this about Dr Chau Chak Wing.

NICK MCKENZIE: ASIO singled out two billionaire donors with especially close ties to the . The first was enigmatic property developer Dr Chau Chak Wing, a man who keeps a low profile except when it comes to his big donations. [The other donor of interest to ASIO was Mr Huang Xiangmo.]

Dr Chau at the Memorial, September 2015 (AWM Annual Report 2015-16)

Dr Chau and his company Kingold have been significant donors to the Australian War Memorial. Kingold appears on the list of donors just inside the entrance of the Memorial and is in the Memorial’s 2015-16 Annual Report (Appendix 9) as a benefactor which has contributed over $250 000. His company is also listed as a donor in the recently released War Memorial Annual Report for 2016-17 (page 92).

In September 2015, Dr Chau led a delegation to the Memorial to honour Chinese-Australian servicemen and to open the Memorial’s Kingold Education and Media Centre, a green screen studio with full facilities for broadcasting and recording. At the same time, Dr Chau was awarded an Australian War Memorial Fellowship and his name appears on the list of Fellows at the entrance to the Memorial.

According to the recent ABC-Fairfax investigation,

Dr Chau is referred to by the code name CC3 in a court case brought by the FBI over the bribery of the former president of the United Nations General Assembly, John Ashe. The FBI alleged Australian-Chinese consultant, Sheri Yan, used $200,000 of Dr Chau’s money to bribe Mr Ashe in November 2013. Ms Yan pleaded guilty to bribery charges and is currently serving a 20-month prison sentence. Dr Chau has never been charged or accused of wrongdoing.

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Dr Chau has donated $20 million for a building at the University of Technology Sydney (it is named after him), has donated $4 million to Australian political parties, has paid $70 million for a home in Vaucluse (previously owned by ), and is also known (in the dialect of North ) as Zhou Zerong. Another $15 million is going from Dr Chau to the for another building, also named after Dr Chau. Dr Chau/Mr Zerong is the chairman of the Kingold Group. His reputed net worth in October 2015 was $US1000 million. Here is more on his reputed networks.

Dr Chau is an Australian citizen. His doctorate is honorary, from Keuka College in upstate New York, and was awarded for community services. The institutions which have received money from Dr Chau for worthy causes have presumably made their own prudential judgements of the pros and cons of these transactions – at the least, the exchange is largesse in return for recognition. (See the report of the recent such calculation by the University of Sydney.) Perhaps the planned extensions of the Memorial might offer scope for a wing to be named for Dr Chau.

Dr Chau gets his Australian War Memorial Fellowship, September 2015 (AWM Annual Report 2015-16)

Reference: http://honesthistory.net.au/wp/centenary-watch-june-july-2017/ (scroll down)

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Long Spoon Department [25 July 2017 updated]

Not long ago we noted [this is the 13 June reference reprinted above] that mysterious celebrity businessman and Australian citizen, Dr Chau Chak Wing, is a Fellow of the Australian War Memorial and his company Kingold is a significant donor to the Memorial. Dr Chau also channels money – he has lots of it – to educational institutions and political parties. The institutions reciprocate by putting Dr Chau’s name on buildings; we are not sure what the political parties do in return.

Chau Chak Wing’s doctorate is honorary, from Keuka College, New York. He is also known as Zhou Zerong. While the FBI alleged that Sheri Yan used Dr Chau’s money to bribe former United Nations General Assembly President, John Ashe, Dr Chau himself has never been charged or accused of wrongdoing. Ms Yan pleaded guilty and is in gaol.

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Dr Chau was recently in the news again with claims in Fairfax that he had links to an arm of the Chinese Communist Party, the United Front Work Department (UFWD). Chinese President Xi said in 2014 that the UFWD was a ‘magic weapon [for the] Chinese people’s great rejuvenation’, and academic observers say the UFWD is ‘dedicated to asserting and spreading Party influence inside China and abroad’.

Dr Chau denied any links to the UFWD, though the Fairfax article had a decent pile of evidence. Meanwhile, perhaps there is a file somewhere in the UFWD’s office labelled ‘Australian War Memorial’ and marked ‘Paid in full’. [Dr Chau is suing the ABC and Fairfax in relation to the UFWD story. The ABC and Fairfax have accused Dr Chau of ‘betraying’ Australia.]

Chau Chak Wing, second from right, with UFWD members, 2016 (Fairfax)

Reference: http://honesthistory.net.au/wp/centenary-watch-july-august-2017/

30 November 2017

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