Via CCP mouthpiece, The Global Times:
China’s Foreign Ministry said on Monday that the alert against travel to Australia was based on adequate facts, as the country has seen a spike in racial abuse toward Chinese and other Asians during the COVID-19 pandemic, in response to an Australian reporter who questioned the warning.
“There are ample facts and arguments for China’s travel alert to Australia,” Hua Chunying, spokesperson of the ministry, said at a press conference. Hua noted that recently, discriminations against Chinese and other Asians in Australia have emerged, as widely reported by Australian media.
“For example, some Australian politicians and media called the coronavirus a ‘Chinese virus’ and maliciously tampered with the Chinese national flag and national emblem. Many overseas Chinese in Australia have been verbally insulted or even attacked, the property of some Chinese and other Asian families was destroyed and they suffered unfair treatment in their daily work,” Hua said.
“Racist graffiti targeting China was seen in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and other Australian cities,” she noted.
Data from the Australian Human Rights Commission showed that in the first quarter of 2020, hundreds of Asians complained of racial discriminations, which made up 25 percent of the complaints, according to Hua.
The Australian Broadcasting Corp reported that there were three racist attacks against Chinese families in one week in April. The state of New South Wales received 241 racial discrimination complaints between January and April 2020, while police in Queensland received 22 such reports from March to early May, said Hua.
Aren’t these reports “persuasive enough?” asked Hua.
The Chinese government has always taken a responsible attitude and reminded Chinese nationals to take care of their own security, Hua noted.
“We also urge the Australian side to face up to the problem and take concrete measures to safeguard the safety and rights of Chinese in Australia,” Hua said.
China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued a travel alert on Friday, warning Chinese people not to travel to Australia, as the country had seen a significant rise in racial discrimination and violence against Chinese and other Asian people due to the pandemic.
Echoing Hua’s response, dozens of Chinese overseas students in Australia reached by the Global Times said they have seen a surging number of media reports and social media posts about racist insults and attacks targeting Asians, especially Chinese, during the pandemic, and about one-third of them said they have experienced such abuse.
A student surnamed Yang at the University of Queensland told the Global Times that she received online and in-person abuse on campus recently.
“Anti-China news has been frequently seen on TV. We now choose to stay at home, and when I have to go outside and wear a mask, I avoid white people in case anything happens,” Yang said.
Another Chinese student surnamed Yu at the University of South Wales said she received online insults with the words “CHINA DIE” after she commented on Twitter saying no evidence showed the novel coronavirus originated from China.
Similar incidents made the Chinese students distressed and concerned for their safety in Australia.
In April, a video of two individuals dragging, kicking and punching two Asian students at the University of Melbourne while shouting “you fxxking immigrant” multiple times went viral on social media.
In March, an anti China Australian rioter Drew Pavlou hung a sign on a wall at the University of Queensland’s Confucius Institute that said it was a COVID-19 “biohazard” and uploaded a photo of it on Facebook.
However, ignoring the rampant racist abuse, Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham, in rejecting the warning, claimed that Australia was “the most successful multicultural and migrant society in the world” and “the Chinese-Australian community is a significant and valued contributor,” Australian media reported.
But Chinese analysts said that Birmingham’s rebuttal was weak as it boasted of historical successes while failing to recognize the anti-China atmosphere that had risen in recent months, which betrayed its cultural traditions and instigated racism.
Never mind a Uyghur stuck in prison, force-fed a daily diet of mind-bending propaganda before having his organs harvested. Australian re-education is playing out in the open air of our coercion economy. The guidelines as out-lined above include:
- resistance to CCP rule is racist;
- arguing COVID-19 originated inside China is racist;
- isolated racist outbursts make all Australians racist;
- all students protesting CCP rule must be persecuted into silence;
- implied is that all ethnic Chinese Australians are at risk and only the CCP can protect them, and
- if we do not comply then expect our economic organs to be harvested.
In short, if you would like to proceed to greater Chinese economic integration from here then Australian civil society will need to accept that it is poor white trash.
Worry not, the ABC is onto it.
Meanwhile, here’s the real war going on under this geo-politicised racial dumpster fire, via Sinocism:
Alex Joske of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute has written a deep report on “foreign interference and the Chinese Communist Party’s united front system”. Joske previously wrote the report “Picking flowers, making honey” about the PLA’s collaboration with foreign universities, and that report has had an impact in some governments, including here in the US with the recent restrictions on visa for some PLA-connected researchers. I expect this work on the United Front to have a similar impact in forcing broader discussion of and actions on some of the related issues.
The United Front is flailing in some places though, with the UK as the latest country that looks to be adopting a more contentious policy towards the PRC. Xi and his New Era and wolf warriors have not made the work of the united front cadres and proxies any easier.
1. United front
The party speaks for you | Australian Strategic Policy Institute | ASPI – Alex Joske
The united front system’s reach beyond the borders of the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—such as into foreign political parties, diaspora communities and multinational corporations—is an exportation of the CCP’s political system.3 This undermines social cohesion, exacerbates racial tension, influences politics, harms media integrity, facilitates espionage, and increases unsupervised technology transfer.
General Secretary Xi Jinping’s reinvigoration of this system underlines the need for stronger responses to CCP influence and technology-transfer operations around the world. However, governments are still struggling to manage it effectively and there is little publicly available analysis of the united front system. This lack of information can cause Western observers to underestimate the significance of the united front system and to reduce its methods into familiar categories…
Law enforcement, while critically important, shouldn’t be all or even most of the solution. Foreign interference often takes place in a grey area that’s difficult to address through law enforcement actions. Strengthening civil society and media must be a fundamental part of protecting against interference. Policymakers should make measures to raise the transparency of foreign influence a key part of the response.
China’s espionage, tech-theft ‘has global reach’ – The Australian
The landmark study comes amid growing concerns over CCP influence in Australia, including in Victoria where Premier Daniel Andrews, who joined Mr Xi’s Belt and Road Initiative, has advisers with United Front links.
It warns that the status and relationships built through the united front system are used to “facilitate intelligence activity” and “political warfare”.
China’s civilian intelligence agency, the Ministry of State Security, is involved in united front work, while the People’s Liberation Army’s political work department is “closely aligned” to the system.
China Steps Up Moves to Influence Diaspora Communities – WSJ $$
In recent years it has turned to increasing its control over Chinese- language media abroad, funding research at prominent think tanks and using China’s popular WeChat messaging platform and other social media to censor, surveil and shape dialogue on policy issues, it said…
Since much of the United Front efforts are aimed at Chinese living outside China, governments need to take measures to better support those communities, the report said. Governments should support independent Chinese-language media and explore legislation to root out censorship and surveillance on WeChat, it said.
China’s foreign interference likely ‘widespread’ in Canada, says author of new report | The Star
A comprehensive new report has mapped out the structures, methods and effects of what it calls China’s global foreign interference system.
And the report’s author tells the Star he believes such activities are “widespread” in Canada, with clues often out in the open.
2. UK-China
Beijing fires warning shot as Britain reconsiders China ties | South China Morning Post
Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s tougher stance reflects increasing cross-party scepticism, while Chinese diplomats have not contradicted media reports that Beijing would retaliate if Chinese business activities are limited…
Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his British counterpart Dominic Raab that Britain should be “extremely cautious” about Hong Kong and not meddle in the city’s affairs, the foreign ministry in Beijing said on Tuesday…
Iain Duncan Smith, a former Conservative Party leader, said: “We shouldn’t give way to threats like this. The moment a country starts threatening you, it’s a country that you therefore shouldn’t be doing business with.”
Duncan Smith, the co-chair of the recently launched Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China – an international grouping calling for a “tougher stance” towards Beijing – also said he was not worried about China’s reported threat to pull out of nuclear projects in Britain.
Boris Johnson told to give legally-binding Huawei 5G exit date or face Commons defeat
Boris Johnson must provide a legally-binding date to strip Huawei from Britain’s 5G network or face a Commons defeat, senior Tory MPs have warned.
Conservatives are pressing for a concrete pledge by the Government within the next two months, while crucial legislation is expected to go through Parliament.
Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Bob Seely said: “Parliament is feeling increasingly restless about the UK’s dependency on China. More and more legislators are recognising that how we handle this issue hugely affects our constituents.”
Back ‘prosperity and stability’ in Hong Kong, Liu tells UK business – CGTN
Speaking to British business leaders, Liu Xiaoming stressed that the national security law set to be introduced in the city was purely an internal matter for China and said it will increase the rights and freedoms of people living there…
“Some UK politicians still cling to the Cold War and colonial mentality, and refuse to accept the fact that Hong Kong has been returned to China,” Liu said, contrasting that position with that of British businesses that have expressed support for the measures.
HSBC and Standard Chartered banks faced calls for a boycott after expressing support for the new law but Liu praised their “visionary move,” noting that seeking long-term prosperity and stability in Hong Kong should be in the interests of everyone.
Are Beijing, London on a collision course? – Global Times
As the China-UK bilateral relationship once hailed as entering a “golden era” faces renewed tensions over London’s positions on issues related to China’s internal affairs in Hong Kong and Chinese telecom firm Huawei, Beijing will likely seek to compartmentalize rising tensions with London by striking back in areas where the UK steps out of line [Emphasis mine] while committing to maximize bilateral cooperation, Chinese analysts said on Monday.
What lies behind the UK’s changing attitude toward China? – Global Times
As a Five Eyes member, the UK is facing huge pressure from the US. And that pressure is mounting as the US has decided to raise its ill-intentioned crackdown on Huawei. Media reported Johnson’s recent decision on Huawei is a signal paving the way for his visit to Washington for the G7 summit. Trade negotiations with the EU have also hit a deadlock, forcing Johnson to move closer to the US…
Though the UK has long said its ties with the US are of a special nature, no one has truly taken such sentiment seriously.
Tian Dewen is a vice director of the Institute of European Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Tian Yuewan is a doctoral candidate at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. [email protected]
3. HSBC’s groveling to Beijing is just beginning
HSBC ‘far from safe’ amid controversial stances – Global Times
Legal experts pointed to previous legal documents that they said showed the bank might have set a trap for Huawei’s Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou. The London-based lender may now face a worsening dilemma, where it’s far from safe from reprisals, some observers said.
If the claims are found to be true, HSBC will no longer be a victim but a criminal set to face sanctions under Chinese law, said legal experts…
“Chinese people will definitely not welcome foreign banks like HSBC, which for its own interests cooperates with US imperialism’s global hegemony, and substantially harms the development of China’s high technology,” Li, an industry insider and close observer of Chinese policies, told the Global Times on Monday.
Behind HSBC’s Rare Foray Into Politics Over Hong Kong – WSJ $$
At a plastic table outside of a Hong Kong metro station, the bank’s Asia chief, Peter Wong, recently signed a petition backing a security law China is preparing to impose on the city…
The support for China marked an unusual public foray into the politics of Hong Kong. Generally, the bank has stuck to a well-worn playbook for China and other sensitive countries such as Saudi Arabia, according to people familiar with the matter: say as little as possible publicly, while privately assuring governments of the bank’s interest in their economic success.
The bank took action after being pilloried by pro-Beijing figures and the state media for not getting behind the law and after having to apologize to Beijing officials last year over information it provided in a U.S. criminal case against a prominent Chinese company, Huawei Technologies Co.
Question: Now that it has cast its lot with the CCP, how will regulators in other markets view it, and how will other major foriegn banks that want a piece of the mainland markets handle this precedent?
4. Eight Parliament Alliance
This is an interesting move by a handful of legislators from eight countries and the EU to work together on building a kind of “united front” towards China. Some are quite influential in their home countries. Xi and his New Era and wolf warriors get a lot of credit for spurring this.
IPAC – Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China 对华政策跨国议会联盟
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China is an international cross-party group of legislators working towards reform on how democratic countries approach China.
It is made up of global legislators and led by a group of co-chairs, who are senior politicians drawn from a representative cross-section of the world’s major political parties.
China’s influence to be stunted by Australian, UK, US, allies with global coalition
A group of 19 MPs from eight countries and the European Parliament, representing a swathe of parties from across the political spectrum have announced a new international coalition of legislators who want their governments to take a tougher and collective stance towards China.
The founder of the group — former Tory party leader Iain Duncan Smith — said the business community should also take notice of the new international coalition of legislators, singling out HSBC bank for its “appalling” backing of China’s new security law cracking down on Hong Kong.
Chinese netizens, observers deride ‘Eight-Nation Alliance’ against China as a farce – Global Times
The “Eight-Nation Alliance” refers to invading troops sent by Britain, the US, Germany, France, Russia, Japan, Italy and Austria-Hungary to China in 1900, to suppress the popular Chinese anti-imperialist Yihetuan Movement. They looted and pillaged Beijing and other cities.
Li Haidong, an expert from the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Saturday that Chinese netizens’ reaction to the IPAC, calling it an “Eight-Nation Alliance” invasion force, reflects the Chinese people’s antipathy towards the West’s hostility and suppression against China.
Modern-day “Eight-Nation Alliance” reflects West’s anxiety about China’s rise – Global Times
Are they trying to form a new “Eight-Nation Alliance”? Rubio and the other lawmakers need to realize that this is not the year 1900 anymore. China is definitely not the country it was in 1900. They are trying to form an anti-China alliance in the globalized era of the 21st century, and they are doomed to fail. These legislators are still narcissistically staying in the old days of imperialism…
By forming the so-called IPAC, these legislators will only humiliate themselves. 120 years have passed, and as the second largest economy worldwide, China and its people will not let the shame of the year 1900 be repeated again on its territory.
Anti-China lawmakers in the West collude to construct ‘Cold War’ mentality: experts – Global Times
IPAC reveals that some Western politicians are trying to establish a united front against China in the West because they see China’s rise and development as a challenge to the Western political system and its rules. They embody a Cold War mentality, trying to weaken countries with governance systems that differ from those of the West on a global scale, Li Haidong, an expert from the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing, told the Global Times on Sunday…
The IPAC member from EU, Reinhard Bütikofer, is also a representative figure promoting the “China threat” theory, taking advantage of his position. The 67-year-old German politician is a member of the European Parliament and the Co-Chair of the European Green Party, also the Vice-Chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China.
China is not a military threat, EU top diplomat says – POLITICO
China may be a systemic rival to the European Union but it’s not a threat to world peace, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said Monday.
Borrell emerged from a three-hour video discussion with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to defend what he called a “realistic” approach to Beijing. His sanguine view of China’s military ambitions puts him at odds with the United States and some of China’s neighbors, ranging from Japan to India, which are increasingly worried that Beijing is flexing its military muscle from the Himalayas to the South China Sea.
The Early Beginnings of China’s Dominance Over the West – The Atlantic – Michael Schuman
As China comes into greater conflict with the West, now is a good time to consider the long arc of the relationship. – This post was excerpted from Schuman’s upcoming book, Superpower Interrupted: The Chinese History of the World.
The more the wolf wankers squeal, the more we know that we’re winning.
