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Opinion | How Australia’s media and politicians can stop fuelling anti-China sentiment
- Anti-Asian abuse and harassment is on the rise in Australia as the media and some politicians paint China as a nation to be feared and loathed
- Australia should use its legal system to stamp out racial abuse and its media should take a more nuanced and balanced approach to China
Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
On Tuesday last week, Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne rejected as “disinformation” a warning by the Chinese government that tourists and students should reconsider coming to the country “because of the risk of racism”.
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In a major foreign policy speech at the Australian National University in Canberra, Payne pointed out that Prime Minister Scott Morrison has “repeatedly called out racist behaviour” and Australia has laws to combat racial abuse.
But the reality for many Chinese who live in, or visit Australia is very different from the picture painted by the Australian government.
Since Covid-19 hit Australia in February, there has been a sustained increase in anti-Chinese and more broadly anti-Asian racial abuse and harassment. A survey released earlier this month by independent think tank Per Capita, the Asian Australian Alliance and Being Asian Australian, found there have been 386 racist incidents since April 2, which included verbal and written abuse, physical intimidation and assaults.
Osmond Chiu from Per Capita told The Sydney Morning Herald on June 7 that a comparison of similar data from the US showed Australia’s Asian population is suffering from more racial abuse than their US counterparts. And as This Week in Asia reported on May 30, Australian anti-racism laws are not often used to punish wrongdoers.
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