“At the event I was invited up to speak, and as is standard practice I acknowledged those present in the room with culturally appropriate honorifics,” Yung said.

“I have no relationship with this individual or their organisation.”

Yung and the Coalition have previously distanced themselves from Xie, who once served as the vice-president of the Huang-chaired Australian Council for the Peaceful Promotion of the Reunification of China that was deemed a “related entity” of the Chinese state.

Xie attended the January 6 event to support Yung and later hosted a lavish New Year celebration at Sydney Town Hall on January 30 with senior business and Liberal figures.

He also joined Yung and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton during a walk in Chinatown on February 2. The state Liberal Party office then denied he was part of the campaign, a spokesman telling this masthead, “We have confirmed that he is not a part of the campaign or a supporter or a donor, just a member of the public who was there during the Lunar New Year street walk.”

The previously unreported video challenges Yung’s efforts to distance himself from Xie. The three-minute speech in Mandarin begins with the Liberal candidate saying, “I’m very happy today that Brother Ming, Mr Xie, gave us this opportunity and brought us together.”

After expressing gratitude for living in Australia, Yung referred to the Australia China Charitable Foundation, which was established by Xie in 2017, and called Xie “Brother Ming” again.

“Can we please give a round of applause to Mr Xie, please?” Yung said later.

The national charity regulator has revoked the charity status of Xie’s foundation. It is not connected to the Australian Chinese Charity Foundation, a longstanding charity recognised by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission.

This masthead contacted a staff member at Xie’s foundation on Saturday afternoon, who said she was “in a meeting” once questions were asked about Yung’s relationship to Xie and the ACCF. She asked for questions to be emailed to her but did not respond to them.

Loading

Xie was stabbed, almost fatally, in 2016 as part of a suspected Asian gang hit. In 2019, he was charged with holding a customer at knifepoint to demand $10 million in property, but the charges were dropped.

In his address, Yung also named Wong as attending the event. The Independent Commission Against Corruption found Wong had engaged in corrupt conduct by trying to circumvent donation laws “by attempting to procure a witness to give false testimony” to help conceal an illegal $100,000 donation from Huang.

Wong said he attended the lunch for about 30 minutes, one of many community events he attended.

Yung was absent from a press conference with Dutton in his electorate. Party members have become increasingly concerned about the party’s exposure to the disclosure issues related to Yung.

Additional reporting by Cindy Yin.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter.