Letters | Chinese in Australia must not become the victims of anti-China media reports

It’s vital to enter a plea to contain the wildfire indignation incited by the influence-peddling of a few recently arrived wealthy powerful Chinese

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Chinese-born students pose for family photos after graduating from Sydney University, in October 2017. Photo: AFP

Published: 8:00am, 29 Mar 2019Updated: 8:00am, 29 Mar 2019

The vilification and demonisation of China’s influence in Australia (as highlighted in Tamara Thiessen’s “What’s driving China conspiracy theories in Australia?”, March 27) pose a real risk for the overseas-born Chinese (OBC) living here. I and also Australian-born Chinese (ABC) stand accused of promulgating China’s international stature if we decide to voice an opinion that calls out anti-China bias in Australia’s lay press.

Without fear or favour, resident OBC and their ABC cousins need to speak up. Chinese-speaking migrants in the advanced economies, unlike their kin in China, have uncensored web access that underpin a more studied and balanced way forward to make up their own mind about China’s burgeoning influence in the world. Reading a parochial local newspaper alone isn’t going to convince the immigrant to supercharge China’s rippling muscularity or betray their adopted country.

It’s vital that we enter a plea to contain the wildfire indignation incited by the influence-peddling of a few recently arrived wealthy powerful Chinese. I remain worried that the urgently loud press accusations of these evildoers that channel China’s geopolitical ambitions through buying Australia’s favours risks unleashing the demons of race-based discrimination and abuse against the whole Australian-Chinese community.

Joseph Ting, Brisbane