Australia’s top diplomat has hit out at China for spreading “disinformation” about the coronavirus pandemic and the risk of racist attacks against tourists and students in the country, amid escalating tensions between Canberra and Beijing.
In a major foreign policy speech outlining the importance of multilateral institutions, Foreign Minister Marise Payne on Tuesday highlighted allegations made by the European Commission last week that Beijing and Russia were running “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns” about the coronavirus for political ends.
Payne also pointed to an announcement by Twitter that the social media giant would remove some 23,000 China-linked accounts for “spreading geopolitical narratives favourable to the Communist Party”, as well as more than 8,000 accounts linked to Russia and Turkey.
“For our part, it is troubling that some countries are using the pandemic to undermine liberal democracy to promote their own more authoritarian models,” Payne said during an event at the National Security College at Australian National University in Canberra.
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“The disinformation we have seen contributes to a climate of fear and division when at a time like this what we need is cooperation and understanding,” she said.
Payne said she had been “very clear” that such disinformation included recent warnings by Beijing that Chinese tourists and students should avoid Australia due to an uptick in racist attacks linked to fears around the coronavirus. Before the pandemic, some 1.4 million Chinese visited Australia annually, spending some A$12 billion (US$8.3 billion), while Chinese students have been the main driver of the country’s A$38 billion international education industry. The Australian Human Rights Commission has reported that complaints of racism spiked in February before falling back to pre-pandemic levels, while an online survey by the Asian Australian Alliance has recorded nearly 400 racist incidents since early April.
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Chinese students have been the main driver of Australia’s A$38 billion international education industry. Photo: Reuters
“I can say emphatically that Australia will welcome students and visitors from all over the world, regardless of race, gender or nationality,” Payne said. “Our law enforcement agencies can, will, do respond to individual crimes and we will continue to move beyond this pandemic true to our status as the world’s most successful multicultural society. The prime minister and the government have repeatedly called out racist behaviour.”
