Chinese academics in Australia shocked, fear ‘chilling effect’ after Canberra revokes visas of two scholars
- Chen Hong and Li Jianjun have been stripped of visas amid an escalating diplomatic crisis involving counterclaims of espionage and media intimidation
- Other Australia-based academics from China see the move as ‘disturbing’ and are concerned it will hurt scholarship and Sino-Australian engagement
Chen Hong and Li Jianjun, who respectively run Australian Studies Centres at the East China Normal University and Beijing Foreign Studies University, were stripped of their visas in a move that has added fuel to an escalating diplomatic crisis involving tit-for-tat claims of espionage and media intimidation.
The centres – which are present at more than 30 universities in mainland China and Taiwan – have been billed as a way to increase mutual understanding and academic exchanges between the countries.
Chen, whose visa was revoked on August 6, was a frequent visitor to the country who worked as a translator for former prime minister Bob Hawke in the 1990s. It remains unclear when Li, who was working on a PhD in Australian literature at Western Sydney University, was stripped of his.