Senator Andrew Bartlett
Monday, June 13, 2005
 
Serious Threats or just false bravado?
Chen Yonglin’s request for asylum is an issue which quite understandably has become a cause celebre for many people, and I am wary of his interests being put secondary to the consequential issues people are raising. If the reports of how DIMIA initially handled his claim are even half-true, I don’t blame him at all for going public. However, it does mean there will be even more pressure on him for a while, even though he will also have plenty of supporters. I often get concerned when one person’s case becomes a cause celebre, as the welfare of that individual (and their families) can become secondary to the campaign itself. I can’t see any way around this dilemma, beyond being sensitive to it and trying to exercise restraint and make dispassionate judgements on a case by case basis. There is no doubt that some person’s situations have been helped by going public (not always through their own choosing), but equally there are others where I think it has not been helpful to them.

It is important that concerns about human rights abuses in China don’t just turn into blanket “China-bashing”. I believe it is usually better - when it is possible - to publicly debate a matter in a way that is non-divisive as it enhances the prospects of a constructive result. However this is not always possible and it is important that sensitivities and niceties don’t become an excuse to cover up the truth or prevent debate about it.

One of the main consequential issues which is now being debated in the mainstream media and on the internet is the way the Chinese government treats people it thinks may disagree with it – not just in China, but in other countries too.

One worrying example I have seen is on a website called Patriot China (Canberra), which says it is run by the Australian Chinese Students Patriotic Association (ACSPA). According to the site this is “a non-commercial, non-government organisation founded by Chinese students in Canberra Australia (whose) main purpose is to introduce a modern, free and democratic China to Australia and its people.”

The website contains an entry about Mr Chen which includes photos of him, such as the one below, with his face crossed out and the words “traitor” branded across it. Apart from calling him a traitor and a criminal, the author of the post says “if it were up to me, I'd kill this punk.”

Some of the comments claiming to come from other Chinese students in Australia are equally disturbing. No doubt one could take all of this as just the sort of false bravado you often get on the internet, (particularly in anonymous comments) but that’s easy to say when it’s not you who is being threatened or having your photo showing you eliminated being posted on the internet.

The comments on ACSPA’s site were also highlighted on a website called Peking Duck. This site is by a blogger in the USA which focuses on China in what seems to me to be a fairly sympathetic way. Some of the comments to his posts provide interesting insights into this fraught area too. Chen Yonglin’s defection has clearly made the news in the USA, as this site shows. (This site also contains good material on continuing Chinese government restrictions on blogs and the media)

As the ACSPA site appears to be run by people who are in Australia on student visas, I think DIMIA should be seriously cautioning them about what is appropriate behaviour in this country. I’m sure the Australian Government does not want to threaten the very lucrative trade in overseas students from China, but this group does claim to “represent many Chinese students in Australian universities” and if this is a genuine example of how people on student visas here behave towards others who they disagree with in this country, I think it should be looked at.

Some other sites providing a variety of views on this situation are Gary Sauer-Thompson, John Quiggin, The Currency Lad, Dogfight at Bankstown, Dispatches from the moderate left, Sydney's Conservative Weasel and Bondurbia.

posted by Andrew Bartlett @ Monday, June 13, 2005 Permalink
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