Opinion | Australia’s anti-China witch hunt isn’t just harmful, it turns people against each other as governments escape scrutiny

This isn’t banter or trolling – this is cancel culture that seeks to extinguish the opinions of those who don’t conform to the view of certain politicians or media outlets, writes Su-Lin Tan

It is a phenomenon that has the ironic and harmful effect of undermining democratic values, including the right to free speech

Reading Time:4 minutes

Published: 6:00am, 1 Nov 2020Updated: 6:00am, 1 Nov 2020

Two years ago, I made the “mistake” of tweeting a single word – “yawn” – in response to new Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s decision to place tackling the Xinjiang problem at the top of her agenda on her debut trip to China. My tweet was directed at politicians who used popular topics to drum up voter support at the expense of respect for a country’s sovereignty – no matter which country – and diplomacy that could pave the way for a better outcome for the issue at hand.

But the Twitter anti-China witch-hunters didn’t see it that way, not even after an explanation.

Certainly not several employees of the Australian and foreign government-funded Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). Instead, they launched a series of personal attacks on my character.

As an Australian journalist covering China and reporting on housing and trade, I’ve faced the full spectrum of bullying, threats and defamation when I pen articles that don’t outrightly “blame” China.

And this isn’t just something that has happened this year over the stress of Covid-19, or as relations fray between Beijing and Canberra; in 2015, one reader left me a voicemail every day for a week calling me a cockroach and “Chinese scum” after I wrote about a study that showed Chinese buyers made up only 4 per cent of the Australian housing market.

However, nothing compares to what three Australians with Chinese heritage endured at a parliamentary inquiry two weeks ago, when Australian Senator Eric Abetz demanded they publicly condemn the Communist Party, sparking a public backlash and a potential investigation into his conduct.

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