Is it the bakery in front of Superbarn?

Chinese Spy Arrested in Australia! 💪💪💪!

A 31-year-old Chinese woman, Siru Zheng (郑思如), an Australian permanent resident, appeared on the surface to be just an ordinary worker at a bakery in Canberra. Every day she sold coffee and bread, with a friendly smile and a hardworking, low-key demeanor—she looked exactly like a typical part-time worker.

But the Australian Federal Police (AFP) allege: this was all a disguise. Since 2022, she has been acting under instructions from China’s Public Security Bureau, forming a group with two other Chinese nationals (one female, one male, with one of them already arrested in August last year) to secretly monitor the Canberra-based Buddhist organization “Guan Yin Citta” (观音法门).

Specific actions included: searching for information about the group online, checking publicly available materials, making phone calls to inquire whether branches were still operating, whether one could join activities… These seemingly ordinary “information-gathering” actions were deemed by police to constitute “reckless foreign interference,” with the purpose of reporting the group’s activities to Chinese authorities.

Guan Yin Citta was founded in Australia by the late Jun Hong Lu and has been classified as illegal in China, where it faces severe suppression. As a result, its overseas branches have long been targets of surveillance.

Siru Zheng and the other two were arrested this week and appeared in the ACT Magistrates Court. All three pleaded not guilty. The magistrate described their intelligence collection as “a bit like high school students doing homework”—mainly using open-source information plus a small amount of direct contact—but still ruled it constituted a crime. Two of them were granted bail, and the case continues. If convicted, the maximum penalty is 15 years’ imprisonment.

This is the fifth case of foreign interference charges since Australia introduced its foreign interference laws in 2018, exposing how the CCP’s long-arm jurisdiction has penetrated seemingly peaceful overseas religious communities. The “coffee girl” at this Canberra bakery turned out to be a link in an international surveillance chain.

Chinese espionage activities have now infiltrated everywhere—Chinese communities, religious groups, international students… vigilance is needed in all areas. If you see suspicious behavior, don’t hesitate—report it anonymously to ASIO or AFP immediately. Australia’s freedom and security must not be destroyed by invisible hands.