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Chinese surveillance found at Australian universities, reports HRW

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Image Representational (Sydney Morning Herald)

By Choekyi Lhamo

DHARAMSHALA, June 30: The international rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a new report published Wednesday said that Chinese and Hong Konger students in Australian universities have experienced harassment and fear of punishment, leading many to self-censor themselves in classrooms. HRW reported that it had interviewed nearly 50 students and academics in Australia and found an “atmosphere of fear” that had worsened in recent years.

The research noted that they had confirmed at least three cases where a student’s activities in Australia had prompted Chinese police to visit or get in contact with their families as a result. In another case, authorities also threatened a student with prison after they opened a Twitter account in Australia and posted pro-democracy messages. Academics who teach China courses say they have also felt mounting pressure to censor themselves over ‘sensitive’ issues.  

China’s embassy in Canberra rejected the report on Wednesday and called it “biased”, accusing the globally known rights group of “decay[ing] into a political tool for the West”. The report also warned that the pressure from China is undermining the academic freedom of these universities.

The Australian government has called for a thorough investigation and has since said that the finding was “deeply concerning”. “We have already taken several actions to combat foreign interference and are working closely with the universities and we will soon be updating our university guidelines,” Australia’s Education Minister Alan Tudge said in a statement.

HRW reported that 11 students from mainland China and 13 from Hong Kong said that there had been a rise in such harassment tactics in Australia following the huge pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019. Similarly, almost all the academics interviewed noticed an increased nationalism among their students from China since President Xi Jinping came to power in 2013. Some also confirmed a few occasions of censorship from university management, including instances where the professors were asked not to discuss China publicly.

It also highlighted that many students feared that other students could report them to the Chinese embassy. “Fear that what they did in Australia could result in Chinese authorities punishing or interrogating their parents back home weighed heavily on the minds of every pro-democracy student interviewed,” said the report. According to the BBC, Australia’s higher education is heavily dependent on Chinese students as 40% of international students were Chinese in the country during pre-Covid times. There are currently 1, 60,000 Chinese students enrolled in Australian universities.

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