{"id":2083,"date":"2020-10-01T19:52:42","date_gmt":"2020-10-01T09:52:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/?p=2083"},"modified":"2020-10-01T19:52:48","modified_gmt":"2020-10-01T09:52:48","slug":"how-glamorous-chinese-diplomat-helped-strike-controversial-agreement-between-victoria-and-beijing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/how-glamorous-chinese-diplomat-helped-strike-controversial-agreement-between-victoria-and-beijing\/","title":{"rendered":"How Glamorous Chinese Diplomat Helped Strike Controversial Agreement between Victoria and Beijing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>By <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/home\/search.html?s=&amp;authornamef=Brittany+Chain\" target=\"_blank\">Brittany Chain<\/a> <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/follow?screen_name=BrittanyChain&amp;tw_p=followbutton\"><\/a> and <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/home\/search.html?s=&amp;authornamef=Charlie+Moore+For+Daily+Mail+Australia\" target=\"_blank\">Charlie Moore For Daily Mail Australia<\/a> &#8211; 28 May 2020<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jean-Dong.jpg?resize=592%2C329&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2084\" width=\"592\" height=\"329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jean-Dong.jpg?w=634&amp;ssl=1 634w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Jean-Dong.jpg?resize=300%2C167&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 592px) 100vw, 592px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption>Chinese consultant Jean Dong (centre) who advised Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on his controversial Belt and Road deal with China rose to prominence after winning  beauty pageant<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<ul id=\"ext-gen19\"><li><strong>Daniel Andrews signed Belt and Road agreement with China in October 2019<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Jean Dong, 33, runs a company which consulted Mr Andrews on the deal<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>She rose to prominence after winning a Melbourne beauty pageant in 2011\u00a0<\/strong><\/li><li><strong>Ms Dong has praised Chinese president Xi Jinping for his handling of COVID-19\u00a0<\/strong><\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A Chinese consultant who advised Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews on his controversial Belt and Road deal with China rose to prominence after winning a beauty pageant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jean Dong, 33, runs a company which was paid $36,850 of taxpayer cash to consult Mr Andrews before he signed the October 2019 deal without approval from the federal government.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Belt and Road Initiative is a Chinese government strategy to build infrastructure and invest abroad, with deals signed all over the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As trade tensions with China mount, Mr Andrews has been urged to scrap the agreement, which he claims creates jobs for Victorians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Federal Liberal MP Andrew Hastie told Daily Mail Australia that Mr Andrews had &#8216;gone off the reservation by conducting his own foreign policy with China&#8217;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a series of reports by <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theaustralian.com.au\/nation\/chinese-pageant-winner-jean-dongs-meteoric-journey-to-influence\/news-story\/469e8bab247899a089f05f19f138e2b0\">The Australian<\/a>, it has been revealed that Ms Dong was a key figure behind the controversial deal &#8211; and she has an interesting backstory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms Dong studied commerce at Adelaide University before joining consultancy giant PwC as an ambitious 21-year-old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"634\" height=\"425\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Xi-Jinping.jpg?resize=634%2C425&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2085\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Xi-Jinping.jpg?w=634&amp;ssl=1 634w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Xi-Jinping.jpg?resize=300%2C201&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Xi-Jinping.jpg?resize=360%2C240&amp;ssl=1 360w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 634px) 100vw, 634px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption>The Belt and Road Imitative has been criticised by Western governments as a stealthy expansion of Chinese influence. Pictured: Chinese President Xi Jinping<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ext-gen26\">In 2011, aged 24, she won the Australian branch of the Miss Chinese Cosmos Pageant, a global beauty competition for women of Chinese heritage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p id=\"ext-gen25\">She returned the following year to present the crown to her successor at Melbourne&#8217;s Crown Casino, reportedly watched by a host of influential Chinese business-people and political figures including Mike Yang and Gladys Liu.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mr Yang was an adviser to then opposition leader Mr Andrews while Ms Liu, now a federal MP, was an adviser to Liberal Premier&nbsp;Ted Baillieu.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ms Dong then set up several consulting companies and in 2014 claimed in an online profile that she was &#8216;heavily involved in advising Victorian state government on \u00adAustralian-Chinese engagement&#8217;.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2015, aged 28, she set up her Australia-China Belt and Road Initiative company, which later consulted the Andrews government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The glamorous businesswoman, who has a background in connecting China with the rest of the world, boasted about her political influence in a YouTube video titled &#8216;Journey of influence&#8217;.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"632\" height=\"355\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dan-andrews-china.jpg?resize=632%2C355&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2086\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dan-andrews-china.jpg?w=632&amp;ssl=1 632w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dan-andrews-china.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 632px) 100vw, 632px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><figcaption>Calls are growing for Victoria&#8217;s labor premier Daniel Andrews (pictured in China&#8217;s Tiananmen Square) to review his controversial Belt and Road agreement with Beijing<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-8363603\/Backstory-Chinas-Jean-Dong-Belt-Road-deal-Daniel-Andrews.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Brittany Chain and Charlie Moore For Daily Mail Australia &#8211; 28 May 2020 Daniel Andrews signed Belt and Road agreement with China in October 2019 Jean Dong, 33, runs a company which consulted Mr Andrews on the deal She rose to prominence after winning a Melbourne beauty pageant in 2011\u00a0 Ms Dong has praised&hellip;&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/how-glamorous-chinese-diplomat-helped-strike-controversial-agreement-between-victoria-and-beijing\/\" class=\"\" rel=\"bookmark\">Read More &raquo;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">How Glamorous Chinese Diplomat Helped Strike Controversial Agreement between Victoria and Beijing<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2086,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[93,49],"tags":[1039,298,659,1295,1296],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/dan-andrews-china.jpg?fit=632%2C355&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2083"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2087,"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions\/2087"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unshackledminds.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}