It was in Canberra in the lead-up to the 2008 Olympics that academic Clive Hamilton realised that something very sinister had taken root in Australia. On the steps of Parliament House, the epicentre of Australian democracy, thousands of angry Chinese students mobbed a small pro-Tibet protest – and Australian authorities did nothing about it. Even worse, Hamilton soon found out, the Chinese Communist Party (via proxies) was the largest donor to both major political parties in Australia.
It’s not just pro-Tibet supporters feeling the wrath of the CCP’s goons in Australia. When swimmer Mack Horton accused Chinese swimmers of drug cheating, he and his family were subjected to a long campaign of terror. From death threats and anonymous phone calls, to broken glass in the swimming pool, Horton learned firsthand what Hamilton had uncovered.
It’s still happening. Especially for diaspora Chinese in Australia.
[Nancy Dong], along with Floria Mao and Alice Lu, are Falun Gong practitioners and were demonstrating the exercises and distributing flyers at Floriade, the Australian capital’s annual flower and entertainment festival.
They say [a] young male walked up to Floria Mao and said in Mandarin, “We are here to attack you!”
More joined him. All Chinese students and all furiously abusing the trio.
Dong says the incident lasted 10 minutes with the men filming the exchange.
The incident was reported to Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Policing but since no physical altercation occurred, the matter did not proceed.
So, once again, obvious CCP enforcers intimidate Australian citizens with virtual impunity. Not for the first time.
During the 2022 Floriade, Dong was physically assaulted by two Chinese men after she caught them vandalising her car, which carried signage criticising the CCP.
It’s all part of a pattern of repression and threats leveraged by the CCP around the world. At particular threat are those with family remaining in China.
The latest Floriade incident comes amid a recent warning from the Group of Seven nations about “transnational repression” (TNR) – a more “aggressive form” of foreign interference.
The strategy deploys a range of methods that creates a “chilling effect” on speaking out against human rights abusers or publicly calling out overseas regimes that engage in the activity.
“TNR often impacts dissidents, journalists, human rights defenders, religious minorities, and those identified as part of diaspora communities,” the G7’s statement said.
Worse, Australia’s universities openly accommodate the CCP in its campaign of repression. As former Queensland university student Drew Pavlou found out, university administrators eager for Chinese funding not only explicitly tolerate often violent CCP activities on campus, but punish anyone who speaks out. Universities also obligingly tailor course content to meet the demands of the CCP’s enforcers. Chinese students on Australian campuses are actively monitored, with threats made to their families in China if they dare step out of line.
[The Chinese Students and Scholars Association (CSSA)], an association supposed to provide support to Chinese academics and students, has been criticised for helping the CCP surveil and report on Chinese students, as well as mobilising them against dissenting views.
The barbarians are in the gates and our elites are not only doing nothing, they’re handing them the torches and pitchforks.
