Recruitment company denies CCP links

The head of Perth-based recruitment company LH Global has rejected claims the organisation is affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, labelling them “simply untrue”.

An article published in yesterday’s edition of The Australian alleged the company had drawn the attention of intelligence specialists for advertising its association with the Chinese Ministry for Industry and Information Technology, which handles the government’s internet regulation, on Curtin University’s careers hub.

The article went on to allege that the company had gone to lengths to hide the affiliation, writing the Chinese name for the MIIT in a dialect that goes undetected by Google Translate.

But LH Global chief executive officer James Clarke told Business News the privately-owned Australia China Joint Venture had no relationship with any political party, nor had it had any involvement in recruiting for any military. 

He said, as a major facilitator of Chinese engagement with Australia and a provider of migration, education, and international recruitment services, that the company had regularly advertised its loose strategic affilliation with the MIIT, which included working towards China’s Industry 2025 aspirations by attracting high-end international talent into China’s workforce. 

“I want to be very clear; the picture painted by the article is simply untrue,” he said.

“LH Global has no affiliation with any political party anywhere.

“The article suggests that we’ve been secretly advertising this, but we have always been transparent about the company’s loose strategic affiliation with China’s Industry 2025 aspirations. 

“As a human resources company, it’s a natural partnership between a leader in HR and the ministry.

“The loose strategic partnership has been no secret and has been included in our company advertising - there has been no effort to hide this.”