Sat, Aug 24, 2019 page6

• Chinese students ‘wedged’ by politics

  • AFP, SYDNEY
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  Ask one of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese students in Australia what they think about Hong Kong and you are likely to be met with apprehension or polite silence.

  It has become what one Chinese student called the “dreaded question.”

  Hong Kong’s unrest has been impossible to avoid on campuses Down Under. Students have clashed physically, hurled insults and death threats, and trolls have besieged social media.

  While most Chinese students apologetically say it is too dangerous to talk, some are willing as long as their identity is not made public.

  “Andy” said that he and many of his compatriots do not want to get involved on either side.

  “We’re here for knowledge. We’re not here to protest,” he said. “We prefer not engaging any form of disruption to our study life.”

  He laments “chaotic” events in Hong Kong and “suspects” dark foreign forces are fomenting separatism — views that closely echo talking points from Chinese Communist Party propaganda.

  “It is quite shocking for me to think that some of our people would actually wave another country’s flag,” he said of the British and US banners that have popped up at some protests.

  However, he also believes protesting is “fine if you have a different point of view” and that governments — including in Beijing — sometimes get things wrong.

  Johnson, a Hong Kong-born student studying at the University of New South Wales, said that the Chinese community has become polarized.

  “The tone of the debate is very acrimonious,” he said.

  Students are expected to either “completely support the protesters or support the government and everything that they do,” he said.

  There is particular pressure on students to “express support for the protests and avoid criticizing the protesters,” he added.

  Meanwhile, pro-Hong Kong students have been physically confronted and had their identities and home address revealed online.

  Universities have been equally wary of getting involved, having received billions in tuition fees from Chinese students and millions from Beijing to build Confucius Institutes.

  Beijing has been quick to hint that the flow of students might dry up, fueling concern they are being made into political pawns.

  James Laurenceson of the University of Technology Sydney said that Chinese students are “in a really wedged position.”

  “If they express an opinion that’s not supportive of the Hong Kong protests, then they’re going to be branded as stooges of the Chinese Communist Party,” he said.

  On the other hand, those “supportive of Hong Kong are fearful that some of their nationalistic peers might criticize them,” he said, adding that there is “legitimate concern” that they “might be monitored by either some of their peers or representatives of the Chinese Communist Party.”

  However, he added that Chinese students have also suffered abuse and been maligned because of the actions of a few hot-headed nationalists.

  “If you add up all of those incidents, you’re talking about 20 to 30 people,” he said. “It’s a very small minority that are highly nationalistic.”
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