Chinese-Australians Affected by Anti-China Agenda

There’s an actually interesting BBC piece written by Frances Mao today about the Aussie government’s sneaky distrust of Chinese-Australians. 

This particular group is said to be facing increasing scrutiny and suspicion – primarily based on their ethnicity – as Australia hardens its views towards China. 

There are 1.2 million people who have Chinese ancestry in Australia – about 5% of the population. 

In October, three of them – all Australian citizens – gave evidence to a Senate inquiry on problems facing migrant communities. But twenty minutes in, each was abruptly asked to "condemn" the Chinese Communist Party! 

When they objected to the question and its relevance, government Senator Eric Abetz (right) pressed them repeatedly, asking "why not?" 

Unmistakably, each made clear they didn't support the CCP – but noted that such demands hadn't been issued to other witnesses at the inquiry. 

"This felt less like a public inquiry and more like a public witch-hunt", one of the three, university researcher Yun Jiang (left), tweeted later.

Another, Osmond Chiu, likened his experience to those forced to "prove their loyalty" during the McCarthy trials in the 1950s – an infamous purge by the US government against a perceived Communist threat. 

"Never did I imagine I would be placed in a similar situation", Chiu (right), a political researcher, wrote in The Sydney Morning Herald. 

He told the BBC: "It was like he [Abetz] was trying to bully us. You kind of think that instead of wanting to hear evidence, he just wanted a political scalp". 

Abetz vigorously rejected calls by political opponents to apologize. Instead, he issued a statement headlined: "Standing firm against ugly dictatorships is everyone's duty Mr Chiu". A typical politician who's good at spewing hooey. 

China is Australia's dominant trading partner, a relationship which has hugely benefited both countries. But in recent times, China has increasingly been viewed by Australia as a security threat. And this prejudiced perception is accompanied by naked hostility. 

That this even occurred isn’t really that a surprise because prime minister Scott Morrison (far left) who, by the way, is a real-life toady and his very existence is to kowtow to Donald Trump. 

The world already knows that Australia has sought to position itself at the forefront of America's anti-China agenda – and with the local political and media bigwigs' connivance to create hateful hysteria targeted at Beijing. 

Indeed China is being portrayed as being belligerent and bellicose – but nothing could be further from the truth. 

And when it decides not to buy Australian goods, know that it is not "punishing" the country – rather it is simply defending its national interests and strategic considerations as all countries are wont to do. Besides, why should China give so much financial benefit to Australia when the latter keeps on demonizing the former? 

I read also that even within Australia's public service, especially when related to “national interest”, many Chinese-Australian bureaucrats say they increasingly felt a deepening sense of mistrust. 

Public servants who spoke to the BBC on condition of anonymity – fearing reprisals otherwise – say they have also been questioned by colleagues on past activities that might otherwise be considered an asset. Their examples included learning Chinese at Chinese government-run Confucius Institutes, participating in Chinese youth groups at university, and taking previous trips to China. 

Do Australians trust their Chinese-Australian friends, colleagues, neighbors? And do Chinese-Australians trust in their society, that they will be afforded the same equality and rule of law as everyone else? Questions that are now coming up in conversations around the country. 

As Jason Yat-Sen Li (left), a Chinese-Australian community leader said: "Because if we cannot trust 5% of our population, that is so contrary to liberal democratic values, and that is doing more damage to our democracy than any foreign government". 

In fact, Australia loves to talk up its "values" – as if those values are more virtuous and far nobler than anybody else’s. Don’t forget that China too has its own set of values – and these values have created a civilization that has lasted for thousands of years.