People gather during a protest against funding agreements between Australian universities and Beijing-funded education organizations at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, on July 31. (Dave Hunt/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
The ongoing protests in Hong Kong have created a surge of alarm in Australia, where pro-Beijing students are aggressively supporting authorities at home. Last month, a group of Chinese students at the University of Queensland in Brisbane made headlines when they targeted a group who rallied in support of the protesters in Hong Kong. Videos show them playing the Chinese national anthem at high volume to drown out views unacceptable to Beijing and ripping posters from the hands of those supportive of Hong Kong.
This week, the university was in the news again when four masked men were caught on camera tearing down a board featuring pro-Hong Kong messages, while in Tasmania a Chinese student group lobbied the university administration to ban similar pro-Hong Kong sentiments.
The clashes, though small in scale, made headlines in Australia — likely because they played into growing fears about the extent of Chinese influence in the country. Were the visiting students merely exercising their rights to express their views? Or was this an example of Beijing influencing its young citizens overseas, at the expense of other students’ freedom of expression and assembly?
Beijing’s response to the confrontations did not alleviate these concerns. China’s diplomatic representative in Brisbane praised the students for their “spontaneous patriotic” behavior, bringing a slap-down from Australia’s foreign minister, Marise Payne. Payne noted Australia’s support of free speech and the right to protest, warning diplomats against “encouraging disruptive or potentially violent behavior."
Even more worrying: Students with pro-Hong Kong views have complained of being under surveillance while in Australia. One Brisbane student, interviewed this week by the Sydney Morning Herald, recounted how his parents at home in China were recently visited by authorities and warned about his participation in the pro-Hong Kong protest.
The current concerns play into a long history in Australia of anxiety over China — an anxiety that has, at times, become virulently racist. The White Australia policy, in place up to the late 1960s, was expressly designed to prevent Chinese immigration. Earlier waves of Chinese migrants, in particular those who arrived during the gold rushes of the 1860s, were subjected to violent attacks.
Today, the relationship between the two countries is complex. China is simultaneously Australia’s biggest trading partner and its most obvious military threat. Around 1.2 million Australians are of Chinese heritage, in a population of about 25 million. More than 1.3 million Chinese tourists visit each year. And then there are the students, whose education is considered one of Australia’s prime “export” industries — in third place after iron ore and coal.
Add to the list Chinese investment in Australia, which has produced its own headlines — in particular over the control of large rural properties and of what some say are strategic assets, such as the port of Darwin.
China’s influence on higher education in Australia has also received scrutiny. Of particular concern are contracts between leading Australian universities and Beijing’s Confucius Institute that, according to critics, effectively allow China to dictate what is being taught. Concerned academics have already sounded a warning bell. They believe the Chinese government is actively intimidating visiting students, threatening “consequences” if they do not show loyalty to their homeland. Some — including writer Clive Hamilton in his book “Silent Invasion” — claim that China is actively threatening Australian sovereignty, and not just in its universities.
This week, a prominent member of the government appeared to agree. Andrew Hastie, the head of Parliament’s intelligence committee, warned that Australia was facing an unprecedented national security test, calling the world’s approach to China a "catastrophic failure.”
Beijing’s increasingly aggressive actions worry Australians, as they should. In a two-part documentary currently screening on Australian television, Stephen FitzGerald — who, in 1973, became Australia’s first ambassador to China and is one of the country’s leading Sinologists — labels China’s attitude toward its diaspora a “provocation.” FitzGerald believes that Beijing should back off — but also that Australia needs to do more to embrace its Chinese students, welcoming them into the freethinking world of Western universities and countering the isolation that many experience.
FitzGerald’s advice offers a clue to the measured response we need right now. Australians, in the end, must steer a difficult course: trying to avoid the dangers of naiveté without falling back into the anti-Asian sentiment of our early history. At the same time, Chinese ambitions are real, and often explicitly stated. Australia, and the world, will need more than luck to manage them.
Read more:
Hana Meihan Davis: In Hong Kong, calls for democracy are written on the walls. Literally.
David Moscrop: How Canada can reset its fractured relationship with China — for the better
The Post’s View: China doesn’t understand Hong Kong’s protests. That’s a big mistake.
David Ignatius: China’s rise presents a dilemma for Australia
Yaqiu Wang: How China’s censorship machine crosses borders — and into Western politics
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/08/09/why-australians-are-worried-about-chinese-influence-universities-beyond/
2019-08-09 18:12:09Z
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