A Liberal candidate for an ultra-marginal seat in Sydney says famous Chinese actors based in Beijing voluntarily provided glowing character references describing him as a “young talent” and were not paid to do so.
Guardian Australia has confirmed the actors approached by Scott Yung’s campaign separately charge several thousands of dollars for similar short video endorsements and personalised messages.
The videos were filmed before Yung unsuccessfuly contested the New South Wales seat of Kogarah in a bid to unseat the premier, Chris Minns. But the videos remain on his official WeChat page.
Yung is now the candidate in the federal seat of Bennelong, where almost one-third of residents have Chinese ancestry. The Labor member, Jerome Laxale, has a margin of just 0.1%.
NSW rules require all electoral expenditure, including money spent on marketing and advertising during campaigns, to be publicly disclosed. Yung’s 2019 disclosures do not reference payments to celebrities for endorsements.
Yung told Guardian Australia “there was no payment for any of these celebrity endorsements. They were provided voluntarily, so there was nothing to declare.”
Shortly after the 2019 state election, in a YouTube video with a marketing expert, Yung confirmed his campaign team had “got celebrities in China to give us endorsements”.
One 14-second video recorded by the Chinese-British actor and film director Zhang Tielin said: “Wishing the talented young Chinese Mr Rong Sicheng [Scott Yung] has great success ahead and a boundless future! All the best! I’m Zhang Tielin from Beijing, China.”
Beijing-based media company Star Wind Culture Media collaborates with Zhang to provide personalised videos including endorsements. Its website states this fee can be up to $15,000.
A Star Wind Culture Media spokesperson said it did not produce Zhang’s endorsement for Yung, but said the actor and director had previously recorded “a few” tailored videos without the company’s involvement.
In 2022, Chinese state media mentioned Zhang as one of many celebrities that provided paid endorsements for a fee worth between $7,600 and $18,000.
Tang Hao, an agent who represents Zhang, told Guardian Australia he could not recall whether the actor was paid for the endorsement or not.
The actor Hu Jun, who has starred in patriotic Chinese movies including The Battle at Lake Changjin, recorded a similar endorsement video that said: “I’m here to wish the talented young Chinese Mr Rong Sicheng – may you rise steadily and achieve swift success!”
Guangzhou-based media company Xingdian Entertainment partners with Hu to produce personalised endorsement videos. A company spokesperson told Guardian Australia they did not produce the endorsement for Yung, but confirmed Hu did charge people for filming tailored videos.
In recent weeks, Yung has filmed interviews with Chinese language influencers who have promoted his story to their followers on the social media app Rednote.
The influencer Lankey Liu, who runs the Sydney Mama Lankey account that usually posts about luxury real estate, introduced her 11,000 followers to “this legendary young Chinese-Australian, Scott Yung”.
Yung noted his personal connection to the former Liberal prime minister John Howard, who held Bennelong for more than 30 years. He referred to this during a separate interview with the “Sydney shop exploration” video blogger, who has more than 10,000 followers and usually posts cooking videos or shop reviews.
Liu, who also shared a separate interview with the independent candidate for Bradfield, Andy Yin, and the Liberal candidate for Reid, Grange Chung, said she had not been paid for the content. She said she approached the candidates because they were both members of the Chinese community.
Candidates from all political parties – especially those with large Chinese-Australian populations – have increased their use of Rednote and WeChat to engage directly with their community.
A 2022 review of the Liberal party’s election defeat found that in the top 15 seats by Chinese ancestry, the two-party-preferred swing against them was 6.6% compared with 3.7% in other seats. This is one reason why politicians such as Laxale and the Menzies Liberal MP, Keith Wolahan, have been eager to regularly communicate with followers on Chinese social media.
