CHINA was using its network of spies for more than just gleaning information – it is also trying to influence Australian politics, Chinese defector Yuan Hongbing said today. Professor Yuan, a writer who was imprisoned in China in 1994 and released to exile in remote Guizhou Province, arrived in Australia in July last year and says he has been awaiting refugee status since. The former Professor of Law at Beijing University has supported claims made by fellow defectors, former diplomat Chen Yonglin and Chinese policeman Hao Fengjun, of an active network of intelligence agents in Australia targeting Chinese dissidents. Prof...