A CHINESE company that paid for Kevin Rudd to visit war-torn Sudan 18 months ago has denied it was doing business in the African country at the time.

Mr Rudd was opposition foreign affairs spokesman when Beijing AustChina Technology, a Chinese importer of Australian telecommunications products, paid for him to visit the African nation of Sudan in June and July 2006. AustChina also sponsored trips to Hong Kong and China by Treasurer Wayne Swan, Agriculture Minister Tony Burke and Labor backbencher Bernie Ripoll before last year’s election. But the company denied reports that its executives had travelled with the future prime minister in 2006, describing the claim as “completely false”.

Someones telling ‘porkies’ so one would imagine the Greens and the Democrats would at this point be frothing at the mouth to find out more about the Rudd China connections, where they go, and the implications for Australian Foreign Policy and Domestic Security.

Starting with Beijing AustChina, News Corporation are not exactly correct in describing the entity as a ‘Chinese Importer’. Checking the companies website we find out it is in fact a foreign company not Chinese.

Beijing AustChina Technology Ltd is a Beijing-registered, foreign-owned company that is dedicated to providing value-added telecommunication and information technology solutions to the Chinese market place. We specialise in the supply and support of the latest, internationally recognised and successful ICT-related technologies through partnerships with leading Australasian companies. Beijing AustChina facilitates the localisation of these specialised products to meet the specific needs of the Chinese marketplace.

So whats the value add and what are these specific needs of the Chinese marketplace that Kevin Rudd has been so helpful in procuring? The Beijing AustChina site reveals that as well, take for example one of the key partners Longreach:

LongReach Group Limited (ASX Code: LRG) is a leading ASX-listed provider of integrated information and communications technology based products and services to the defence, security and intelligence sectors, as well as to government, telecommunications and corporate customers, both locally and internationally. (AustChina/Longreach/C4i - opposition still dithering in parliament)

Ouch! Might be time to lay your cards on the table Mr Rudd your position as Prime Minister may well be compromised by inadvertently trading military intelligence expertise with a major world power that Australia does not have an official treaty relationship with.

What does Crikey have to say about all this? No elaboration on the military connections but some messy business back home and further indications that this company was set up in Australia contrary to the popular belief of the mainstream media:

Let?s start with exactly what is Beijing AustChina Technology, this mysterious company which Christian Kerr revealed in The Australian last week paid for Rudd, Wayne Swan and the hypocritical Tony Burke to take seven business class trips, mostly to China, over the past four years.

Veteran telecom industry players claim never to have heard of Beijing AustChina Technology. The company?s website trumpets that it acts as an agent for a few telco equipment companies but this press report suggests annual turnover is a rather meager $6 million.

The business address appears to lead to a residential address in Warriewood, North Sydney, and they are a $1 company.

However, company founder Ian Tang, who personally chaperoned Rudd and Swan on one China trip in 2004, now turns out to be pushing a $1.3 billion property development backed by Stanley Ho. Ho, of course, is the colourful entrepreneur who controlled Macau?s casinos for decades and handed control to his son Lawrence a couple of years back rather than face probity tests in Australia when the family joined forces with the Packers to create Melco.

NSW Labor has long been up close and personal with gambling, developer and Packer interests, so it should come as no surprise that Morris Iemma lauded Ian Tang when appointing him an honorary Sydney ambassador.

Such an honour followed the rather generous $258,000 in donations to the NSW ALP by Beijing Austchina Technology, payments which coincided with this period of sponsored travel.

Enough already, order in the house! So, when is a Prime Minister not a Prime Minister? Simple: When he’s not a Prime Minister!