Australia & NZ
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Chinese-Australians to get the Loyalty test
© Provided by ABC NEWS Wesa Chau said Eric Abetz's questioning was unfair and compared it to McCarthyism. (Twitter/ABC News)
A Senator's grilling of three Chinese Australians has ignited a fierce debate in the diaspora community, with some labelling it blatant racial profiling and others defending his call to denounce the Chinese Communist Party.
During a Senate committee hearing last Wednesday focussing on diversity in Australian politics, Liberal senator Eric Abetz repeatedly asked the trio about their attitude to China's ruling party.
"There are other factors a lot more important to be considered than skin colour and ethnic origin … can I ask each of the three witnesses to very briefly tell me whether they are willing to unconditionally condemn the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship?" he asked.
The exchange has been shared widely on WeChat and other Chinese language social media sites, drawing a furious response from some in the community.
But while many Chinese Australians said the questions were "racist", others defended Senator Abetz.
"I am thankful Senator Abetz had the guts to say something like that," said Edgar Lu, an emerging Chinese Australian influencer known as Sydney Daddy on YouTube.
"Senator Abetz's question was very much to the point … because the scale of the CCP's suppression on freedom is far beyond a tolerable level, even spreading overseas."
He said the three participants didn't have an obligation to give an answer, but they should not "demonise" the question by claiming it was "racist".
During the hearing, Osmond Chiu, a research fellow at the progressive think tank Per Capita, said he did not support the CCP but did not believe it was helpful to "get into a political game of denouncements".
Wesa Chau, Labor's deputy lord mayor candidate for Melbourne, said Australia should "defend human rights and speak up against it", but at the same time, she said it was "unfair" to request witnesses to "publicly declare their allegiance to Australia by condemning a foreign government".
"This goes to the point I was making: when a person is putting their hand up for public office or speaking out publicly, they are required to make that allegiance and declare loyalty. This is unfair on the community," Ms Chau said in the hearing.
She later called it "race-baiting McCarthyism".
Jane Poon, representative for the Australia-Hong Kong Link, which lobbies the Australian Government to stand up for Hong Kong's democracy, told the ABC the question from Senator Abetz might be "objectionable", but she didn't feel "humiliated" by it.
"Many Chinese migrants — especially from mainland China — were scared to talk about it," Ms Poon said.
"It's time to face the offences committed by the country and nation of our origin, and choose to condemn them."
'White people don't have to demonstrate they're Australian'
But some people of Chinese heritage who were born in Australia or moved here as infants see it differently.
Jinghua Qian, an award-winning Chinese-Australian writer, said Senator Abetz's question was "blatant racial profiling".
"I can condemn him [Xi Jinping] all I like and the only plausible consequence is that my family are threatened as a result," they said.
The 33-year-old came to Australia from Shanghai as a child, after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
They said they have no problem with "unconditionally" condemning the CCP, "and particularly their human rights abuses in Xinjiang", but the question proved the citizenship for Australians who are people of colour is "conditional".
"Why are Australians addressing the Australian Senate expected to have an opinion on the government of a foreign country at all, just because they have Chinese ancestry?" Jinghua told the ABC.
"There's a double standard in this country where people of colour always have to prove themselves in endless performances of loyalty and gratitude, while white people don't have to do anything to demonstrate that they're Australian."
Jinghua added that Australian Muslims were also constantly called to condemn terrorists or ISIS, "as if they're responsible for the actions of these groups".
"But ISIS aren't sitting around waiting for some kid in Melbourne to condemn them. And Xi Jinping isn't sitting around wondering what a queer performance poet in Footscray thinks of his policies," they said.
"Abetz is telling all Chinese Australians that… it doesn't matter if you're actually from Malaysia or Taiwan or Singapore or Vietnam, it doesn't matter if you've never set foot in the People's Republic of China … you will always be considered Chinese based on your face. "
Jieh-Yung Lo, director of the Centre for Asian Australian Leadership at ANU, said there was "a real sense of shock" after he heard the exchange.
"If the Senator does believe that it is our duty to condemn foreign dictatorships and autocratic governments, and it should be all foreign dictatorships and autocratic governments, not specific ones that are seemingly associated with our ethnicity," Mr Lo said.
He said the incident showed Australia still had a long way to go to build a cohesive society, because "multiculturalism and inclusion should be more than just food and festivals".
Government MPs concerned comments could spark racial hostility
The exchange has also stoked unease among some Coalition MPs who are worried that Senator Abetz's comments might feed into racial hostility towards Chinese Australians, as well as alienating the Chinese community from the Liberal Party.
No Coalition MPs or senators have directly criticised Senator Abetz, but Liberal senator Andrew Bragg put out a statement saying Chinese Australians were "magnificent patriots" who played an invaluable role in the early fight against COVID-19.
"The Chinese Australian leadership would say privately, perhaps publicly, that Chinese Australians are the only people in the Australian family who are asked to confirm their loyalty to Australia, and I think that is degrading and regrettable," he told the ABC.
Liberal MP Fiona Martin — whose Sydney electorate of Reid includes a large number of Chinese Australians — also declared in the House of Representatives that she would "stand up" for the Chinese community.
"In a political climate fuelled by COVID-19 tensions [Chinese Australians] are faced with scrutiny and even racial abuse that should not be tolerated, whether it's vile words yelled on public transport or physical attacks on the street or racist rhetoric in this place," she said.
Senator Abetz said in a statement he was asked about his loyalty to Australia numerous times because he was born in Germany.
"At no point did I question the loyalty of anyone. I did not even mention the word 'loyalty'," Senator Abetz said.
"Standing firm against ugly dictatorships is everyone's duty."
When Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked to comment on the incident last week, he didn't comment directly on Senator Abetz's question.
"There is only one pledge that any Australian citizen should take and that's the pledge they take when they become an Australian citizen," he said.
Mr Lo said the Prime Minister's "vague response" could create not only confusion, but also division.
"What about Chinese Australians or Asian Australians that are born here like me?" Mr Lo asked.
"It sort of dismisses that there are also large parts of the Chinese Australian community that were born in Australia."
The ABC approached Hong Kong-born Liberal MP Gladys Liu for comment, but she declined.
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/austr...ia/ar-BB1aguEz
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