Asian Angle | China, Australia and the US are using racism as a political football
- Beijing’s warning to citizens to reconsider going to Australia is both fair and disingenuous
- Now more than ever, this critical human rights issue is being used as a political tool to feed the savagery of geopolitics
Hundreds of Asians have reported incidents of racism to both the Australian Human Rights Commission and hotlines run by individuals and groups such as Osmond Chiu of the Per Capita think-tank, Asian Australian Alliance, and Being Asian Australian.
There are likely hundreds more who have chosen to stay silent mostly because they think the effort would exceed the benefits of justice, if at all.
Racism is unlawful in Australia at the federal level but apart from criminal offences such as racially-motivated assaults, victims of harassment or racial abuse have found it time-consumingly onerous to get recourse. They can get civil compensation privately or in court if the government determines the law has been breached but both activists and lawyers have pointed out how archaic the law is now in penalising acts of racism.
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Given the situation, Beijing has every right to issue a warning to Chinese citizens. After all, travel advisories from Western countries to citizens travelling to places such as Egypt and Syria are littered with warnings of terrorist attacks.