Back in August, it was John Garnaut warning on the Chinese soft power sweeping Australia’s universities.
Then in September, it was the peak body representing Australia’s elite universities, which admitted there have been “isolated” instances of Chinese government interference on campuses, including academic staff being targeted in Chinese social media campaigns, as well as interference from Chinese consulate education counsellors.
Earlier this month, ABC’s 7.30 Report aired allegations that China’s ruling Communist Party is extending its interference and repression on Australian campuses.
And today, ASIO has warned of foreign interference in Australia’s universities. From The ABC:
The head of Australia’s domestic intelligence agency has warned that the Federal Government needs to be “very conscious” of foreign interference in universities.
ASIO boss Duncan Lewis was not willing to say which foreign governments were active on Australian campuses, or give any examples of deliberate intrusions.
But he made it clear that Australian spies were keeping a close eye on the issue.
“We need to be very conscious of the possibilities of foreign interference in our universities,” Mr Lewis told a Senate estimates committee in Canberra.
“That can go to a range of issues. It can go to the behaviour of foreign students, it can go to the behaviour of foreign consular staff in relation to university lecturers, it can go to atmospherics in universities.”
Mr Lewis said providing any more information publicly would compromise his agency’s work.
Australian Government officials have been more open in private.
They say the Chinese Government exerts a heavy influence on Chinese student groups at Australian universities and they have accused Beijing of using those groups to spy on Chinese students in Australia, and to challenge academics whose views clash with the worldview of the Chinese Communist Party.
Security officials say Australia is now working with its Five Eyes partners — the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and New Zealand — to hammer out a strategy to push back against intrusions into Western universities.
As we know, this is the tip of the iceberg of Chinese soft power as it:
- favours local elites that fete it in intellectual discussion;
- pays for favourable press coverage in the mainstream press;
- deploys lobbying dollars to infiltrate parliaments;
- supports patriotic tertiary groups and attacks perceived enemies, and
- conducts all manner of commercial and strategic espionage activities.
None of this should be any surprise. It’s the same stuff that all major powers get up to and the US has been doing it for a very long time. Neither is the CCP’s claim over its Diaspora that unusual even if it more assertive about it than most.
The only issue with China doing it is that it has a political system that is openly and increasingly hostile to democracy. And, given the immense influence that regime already has over Australia economically, taking one third of our exports and occupying the marginal bid in the housing market – representing the two halves our economy – we have to ask ourselves what measures should be taken to keep ourselves from stumbling unwittingly into the embrace of an autocratic hegemon.
We have a few suggestions. Given the momentum in the economic relationship is so overwhelming, policy should lean against it. By that, we don’t mean choose sides nor “contain” China. Not at all. What we mean is:
- ban all foreign donations in parliament;
- keep immigration levels manageable (say 100k per annum);
- properly police the foreign bid out of the housing market;
- work hard at keeping the US engaged in the region along with other “five eyes” allies, and
- ensure standards of independence are enforced in universities.
Some simple and pragmatic measures to keep the political economy on the straight and narrow.
