Chinese diplomats reportedly denied the Communist Party was trying to control international students studying in Australia at a dinner held in Canberra.
About a dozen first-term Labor MPs and senators attended a dinner function at the Chinese Embassy in Canberra last October, according to the ABC.
The Chinese diplomats present at the meeting – deputy ambassador Cai Wei and first secretary Liu Wei – reportedly tried to convince the Labor cohort China was not spying on or interfering with students studying abroad in Australia.
Mr Wei apparently asked how the embassy could possibly keep an eye on "tens of thousands" of students when there were only "three education officers attached to the embassy".
The meeting may have taken place just a few days after the secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade gave a speech warning Australian universities not to bow under "untoward pressure" from China.
It is fairly common for diplomatic outposts in Canberra to invite politicians to embassy functions.
It is not yet clear if there was a similar event held for first-term Coalition politicians.
