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Embattled Hong Kong-born MP Gladys Liu has denied having any links to Chinese government covert foreign influence operations after being caught out during a trainwreck TV interview.

The rookie Liberal politician was revealed to be a member of three associations Beijing uses for propaganda and to influence Chinese living overseas.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has referred to these efforts as one of his 'magic weapons' for flexing China's soft-power muscles abroad.

Ms Liu said she 'cannot recall' her membership during a disastrous TV interview on Tuesday night that prompted questions about her fitness to serve in Parliament.

Embattled Hong Kong-born MP Gladys Liu has denied having any links to Chinese government covert foreign influence operations

However, she later admitted she held an honorary role but claimed she had no knowledge of their day-to-day activities.

Australia's first female Chinese-born MP also failed to condemn China's expansionism in the South China Sea as illegal, as is the Morrison Government's position.

'Gladys Liu, are you in effect a spokesman for the Chinese Communist regime in Australia?' Sky News host Andrew Bolt asked her to at the end of the interview.

'The simple answer is no,' she replied.

Ms Liu, who became an Australian citizen in 1992, in a statement on Wednesday tried to clarify her comments and denied was was under Beijing's spell.

'I am a proud Australian, passionately committed to serving the people of Chisholm, and any suggestion contrary to this is deeply offensive,' she said. 

Chinese Government records show Ms Liu was council member of the Guangdong provincial chapter of the China Overseas Exchange Association in 2003-2015 and its Shandong chapter in 2010.

During that time, the association was an arm of China's State Council and later absorbed into the United Front Work Department.

The UFWP oversees China's strategy to enhance its influence and power overseas by recruiting Chinese ex-patriots and others to promote its interests. 

Ms Liu (pictured left with Prime Minister Scott Morrison) was revealed to be a member of three associations Beijing uses for propaganda and to influence Chinese living overseas.

Ms Liu was also a member of the World Trade United Foundation, which purports to promote China-Australia trade but experts say it is part of the UFWP. 

She claimed to have joined the group to 'support the promotion of trade between Australia and Hong Kong' and left in 2016.

Ms Liu being linked to these associations provoked comparisons to disgraced former senator Sam Dastyari, who was forced to resign over his own links to China.

Mr Dastyari accepted donations from Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo, who has since been banned from setting foot in Australia.

Shadow foreign affairs minister Penny Wong called on Prime Minister Scott Morrison to assure the Australian people the Ms Liu was a fit and proper person.

'I can recall the Liberal Party making Sam Dastyari a test of Bill Shorten's leadership. Well this is Scott Morrison's test,' she said. 

In her statement on Wednesday Ms Liu admitted she was also the honorary president of the United Chinese Commerce Association of Australia and the Australian Jiangmen General Commercial Association.

'My involvement was done for no other reason than to support the promotion of trade between Australia and Hong Kong, and to encourage individuals in the Australia-Hong Kong community to undertake community work,' she said.

Ms Liu being linked to these associations provoked comparisons to disgraced former senator Sam Dastyari, who was forced to resign over his own links to China

Ms Liu claimed that Chinese organisations often list prominent figures as members or as honorary presidents without their knowledge or permission. 

'I do not wish my name to be used in any of these associations and I ask them to stop using my name,' she said.

However, she did not clarify which, if any, of the organisations she has admitted, or been accused of, being linked to fraudulently claimed her patronage.

Ms Liu also told Bolt that even the organisations she agreed to be the honorary president of did not tell her of their Beijing-directed activities.

'They want to use your fame, they want you to attend their functions... to lift their profile,' she said.

'Definitely there was no information to me what they do day-to-day and I have no knowledge of whether they support [Chinese policy].'

The gaffe-prone MP has previously expressed concern about being taken for a ride by groups that aren't what they seem, and meeting with dodgy figures at networking events.

Ms Liu was also a member of the World Trade United Foundation (pictured as delegate to an event in 2015), which purports to promote China-Australia trade but experts say it is part of the UFWP

At the security briefing in June for new MPs, she asked ASIO boss Duncan Lewis if the spy agency could vet people and groups before she met them, The Australian reported. 

Mr Lewis told her that wasn't the protocol, and MPs were instead informed when they had already met with anyone deemed a security risk.

Ms Liu also asked if Chinese messaging app WeChat was a security risk and if she should delete it from her phone.

She also bizarrely asked how she would declare an object she was given, but was completely unable to describe what it was. 

When Bolt asked Ms Liu about the South China Sea, where China is building military bases on islands it claims to own, she failed to explicitly support her government.

'This is a matter for the Foreign Minister. I definitely put – I would put Australia's interests first, and that is exactly what I have been doing,' she said. 

Ms Liu was lauded by Mr Morrison and the cheered by colleague after her first speech to parliament in July

Bolt replied: 'Well the government's position is, of course, that the theft was unlawful. It is challenging China's theft of the sea. Do you support the government's position that China stealing the South China Sea is unlawful?'

Ms Liu said: 'My understanding is a lot of countries are trying to claim ownership, sovereignty of the South China Sea because of various reasons, and my position is with the Australian government.'

A frustrated Bolt finally asked Ms Liu to say 'yes or no' whether she supported the government's position that China's actions were illegal.

'Well as I said, I want to make sure that Australians' interests were put first and foremost and if it's going to affect our trade or our air travelling, then that is something that I would not support,' she replied.

Bolt pointed out that Australia's trade and interests were both affected and that the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague agreed with Australia.

'Everyone listening can hear that you are reluctant to go along with that fairly clear proposition which is, in fact, your party's position too,' he said.

Ms Liu said in her statement on Wednesday that Australia had a 'consistent and clear' position that she was simply upholding.

'We not take sides on competing territorial claims but we call on all claimants to resolve disputes peacefully and in accordance with international law.

'Our relationship with China is one of mutual benefit and underpinned by our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership.

'China is not a democracy and is run under an authoritarian system. We have always been and will continue to be clear-eyed about our political differences, but do so based on mutual respect, as two sovereign nations.'

Ms Liu said she 'cannot recall' her membership during a disastrous TV interview on Tuesday night that prompted questions about her fitness to serve in Parliament

Ms Liu was also asked by Bolt if she considered President Xi a dictator, which she refused to agree with.

'I'm not going to use the word dictator. He is in their system an elected chairman or president, they call it, for China,' she said.

Bolt also forced Ms Liu to admit that she told a forum of 40 Chinese-Australian groups - some with links to Beijing - they should speak to their local MP if they thought Australia should be 'more friendly' with China.

However, Ms Liu was defended by other Chinese-Australians who pointed out Ms Liu's longstanding defence of Hong Kong.

'Gladys is anything but pro China. She has lost nearly all support from pro Chinese donors after coming out in support of the Hong Kong protests,' Chinese Muslim writer Michael Cheng Liu said.

He also noted that Ms Liu had a WeChat supporter group run by the father of one of her staffers that immediately banned pro-China commenters.

Ms Lui also thanked prominent Falun Gong and Hong Kong independence activists like Jen Li in her maiden speech.

'These things are a big no if you’re pro China,' Mr Cheung said.

Ms Liu was also accused of dirty tricks on election day over Chinese-language signs advertising to Liberal Party in the same colours as official Australian Electoral Commission signs 

Ms Liu is no stranger to controversy relating to her Chinese roots.

It emerged during the election campaign that she, in unpublished comments during a Guardian interview in 2016, suggested other immigrants were 'not as good' as Chinese.

She was discussing Chinese-Australian attitudes to crime at the heigh of the African gang panic in Melbourne.

'They blame those migrants who are not as hard-working as the Chinese, not as disciplined in terms of respect for others,' she said. 

'They do distinguish themselves from those not as good migrants, if you know what I mean. Because there are different kinds of migrants. Some are very hard-working, do everything well for the family, for the country. 

'Whereas others they just come in, and they reproduce, and have many children, and they take welfare from the government.' 

Ms Liu was also accused of dirty tricks on election day over Chinese-language signs advertising to Liberal Party in the same colours as official Australian Electoral Commission signs.

A High Court challenge was made in July to invalidate the result on the grounds that Chinese-speaking voters may have viewed it as an official AEC direction.