China makes new warnings on studying and travelling in Australia as tension between them deepens due to Canberra's push for studying coronavirus origins.
“I don’t know where the Australian leader’s so-called reference to coercion is coming from, and why are ‘values’ being pulled into this too?” she said.
“As for discrimination and violence in Australia, it has been widely seen in Australian media and online for some time, and China’s embassy in Australia has received a lot of complaints and requests for help. If the Australian side is not even willing or too scared to admit these truths, then I don’t know where this so-called confidence is coming from?”
Her statements came after Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison slammed Beijing for telling its Chinese citizens to avoid studying in or travelling to Australia due to a rise in racist attacks on Asians during the coronavirus pandemic.
Up to Chinese citizens
The rift between Beijing and Canberra heated in the past weeks, after Australia led calls for an independent investigation on the origin of the coronavirus. The disease reportedly emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year.
Aside from travel and study warnings, China also imposed restrictions on imports of barley and beef from the island nation.
Morrison explained that is it the Chinese citizens that will decide whether to travel to Australia. He also finds the accusations of racism against them as a “ridiculous assertion."
“Australia provides the best tourism and education products in the world and I know that is compelling,” Morrison said. “One thing Australia will always do is act in our national interest and never be intimidated by threats.”
The Group of Eight alliance of Australian universities said that Beijing’s warning to Chinese students as “disappointing and unjustified”.
Meanwhile, Australia’s deputy prime minister Michael McCormack disagreed with Beijing’s statements, saying they were based on “false information."
“There hasn’t been a wave of outbreaks of violence against Chinese people,” he said. “I don’t know why this has been stated. I don’t know. I don’t know what was in the thinking of the organisation or the person who made the statement. But all I can say is the statement is not true.”
Trade Minister Simon Birmingham denied the increase in racist attacks against Chinese students in Australia.
Racial discrimination related to Covid-19
However, hundreds of Asians have reported racial discrimination in Australia in recent months. The Australian Human Rights Commission revealed that a third of all racism-related complaints reported since February were related to the coronavirus outbreak.
“We hope the Australian government will uphold an open and pragmatic investment policy, strengthen its communication with foreign investors … to create a fair and non-discriminatory investment environment … that will protect the legal rights of all [investors] … including Chinese ones,” ministry spokesman Gao Feng said.
Adam Ni, director of the China Policy Centre think tank in Canberra, explained there had been an increase in racism related to Covid-19. However, the Chinese government had politicized the issue as its relations with Australia gradually diminishes.
“For China, I think it’s a matter of showing that it can punish what it perceives to be misbehaviour, or behaviour that impinges on its interests,” he said.
“So I think it can get worse than barley, beef, education, tourism – there is still potential for other areas of confrontation, depending on how the relationship shapes out.”
