A prominent Chinese businessman has resigned as chairman of a Sydney think-tank following his involvement in a political scandal that has sparked debate on the growing influence of Chinese money on Australian politics and civil society.
Huang Xiangmo, founder of the Yuhu Group and a prolific donor to Australian political candidates and parties, said on Thursday he was stepping down from his position as head of the Australia-China Relations Institute (Acri) at the University of Technology Sydney because his position was directing too much focus on “political donations and supposed Chinese influence”.
“I do not want this to be a distraction from the very good work being done by the institute,” said Mr Huang, who gave a A$1.8m (US$1.4m) founding donation to UTS to help set up the think-tank.