He built his political career presenting himself as the greatest defender of Flanders but, in the process, Filip Dewinter, the historical leader of the far-right Vlaams Belang party and vice president of the regional Parliament, received a bonus from the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China.
Its function is to act as a link between Beijing and other European far-rightists. This is what the documents published yesterday by two Dutch-speaking media in northern Belgium, Apache and Humo, indicate, letters and invoices that directly link Dewinter with the alleged Chinese spy Changchun Shao, who was expelled from the country in 2017.
Vlaams Belang's ties to Beijing are not a surprise. In December, an investigation by The Financial Times, Le Monde and Der Spiegel revealed that its deputy Frank Creyelman – meanwhile expelled from the ranks of the party – had worked for three years as a spy in the pay of the Chinese Government with the aim of influencing the European discussions on the situation of human rights in the Asian country.
To date, only Dewinter was known to have taken steps to prevent Changchun Shao's deportation. In light of the Creyelman case, these ties were once again under scrutiny, but he assured that the contacts were limited to the scope of various cultural associations and the alleged payments only corresponded to the reimbursement of expenses.
The information published yesterday indicates, however, that he worked as a political advisor for China and that he was paid as such for his services. Among the expenses presented by the Vlaams Belang deputy to Changchun Shao are working meals with European far-right politicians as part of the preparations for the visit to Belgium of a delegation from the Chinese Association for International Friendship Contacts (CAIFC). . According to Western analysts, this organization, founded in 1984, functions as part of the intelligence services.
Dewinter mediated in 2016 to put them in contact with European far-rightists such as the French denier Bruno Gollnish and the German neo-Nazi Udo Voigt, both MEPs at the time, and a delegation from the Greek party Golden Dawn. The Flemish politician does not deny those meals but maintains that “they had nothing to do with political issues,” Apache and Humo explain.
The published invoices indicate that he billed for meals and trips worth more than 11,000 euros, of which at least 3,000 corresponded to his services. Dewinter maintains that he did not know that the CAIFC had a relationship with the Chinese secret services. In another letter addressed to his vice president – who is also vice foreign minister, Cheng Guoping – he expresses his desire to “close ties” with the association. Other services for which Dewinter charged were arranging a meeting between his Chinese contact and the Syrian ambassador in Brussels. “Shao wanted to meet him, what's wrong with that? I have the right to put people in contact,” argues the former president of Vlaams Belang, who signed letters as “political advisor” to the Silk Road Foundation.
The revelations about Vlaams Belang's Chinese connections, which add to its old ties with Moscow, come with the far-right formation at the top of the polls in Flanders ahead of the European, federal and regional elections on June 9. The environmentalist party Groen has called for Dewinter to resign as vice president of the Flemish parliament.
