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China’s Communist Party
ChinaDiplomacy

China bans Australian academics in apparent tit-for-tat retaliation

  • Clive Hamilton and Alex Joske have written extensively on Chinese influence overseas, and say they have no plans to visit
  • Journalists have already been affected by worsening relations between Beijing and Canberra, now scholars feel the heat

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Australians Alex Joske (left) and Clive Hamilton have learned through a Chinese state media report that they are not welcome in China. Photo: Vision Times Media Australia
Sarah Zheng
Two Australian academics have been banned from entering China, after Australia revoked the visas of two Chinese scholars on national security grounds, Chinese state media has reported.
Clive Hamilton, an Australian professor and author of books on Chinese influence operations in other countries, and Alex Joske, an expert on Communist Party influence who works as an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, were targeted under the country’s exit and entry law, according to state-run tabloid Global Times, which is affiliated to party mouthpiece People’s Daily.

The report, which quoted anonymous sources, did not cite any reasons for the decision.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday that China had the sovereign right to decide which foreigners to allow into the country.

“China welcomes foreigners to come to China to learn, work and live, objectively introducing China’s situation and domestic policies and enhancing understanding between China and the world,” he said. “At the same time, China firmly rejects anyone who uses the cover of academia to spread false information to smear and attack China and harm China’s national security.”

Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said every country was “entitled to determine its own visa requirements”.

“Australia strongly supports academic freedom and freedom of speech,” a spokesman for the department said.

Hamilton, a professor of public ethics at Charles Sturt University in Canberra, said he was surprised to learn of the ban from Chinese state media, and that he had decided two or three years ago that it was too dangerous to travel to China.

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