Jul 31, 2019 11:25 PM
(Sino-Australian community)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49159820
EXCERPT: Hong Kong is now in its eighth week of street protests, which began with opposition to a controversial extradition bill but have spiralled into wider opposition to the government and Beijing.
As the situation grows yet more tense, the impact is also being felt overseas, particularly among the hundreds of thousands of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong students studying in Australia. At the University of Queensland, the tensions spilled over into violent clashes last week, when a group staging a support rally for the Hong Kong demonstrators were confronted by pro-Beijing protesters. Hundreds of protesters faced off against each other, yelling insults and abuse as the Chinese national anthem was blasted from a speaker.
Videos posted online showed pro-China supporters ripping posters from the hands of opponents, prompting shoving and physical confrontations. Security officials quickly arrived to separate the groups but tensions remained high, said Nilsson Jones, a student journalist who filmed some of the clashes. "Overwhelmingly, the [mainland] Chinese students were the aggressors," he said, adding that they had also turned out in greater numbers.
Hong Kong students who took part in the protests told the BBC they had done nothing to incite that response. [...] The University of Queensland did not speak directly about [...threats to HK students...], but said it was investigating the protests and had offered support to students. "The university is committed to protecting freedom of speech, and has zero tolerance for violence and intimidation," a spokeswoman said. [...] Other posts on social media appear to suggest that tensions have spread to other universities. One showed the destruction of a pro-democracy message board at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
[...] There are just under 200,000 Chinese students in Australia who, like in many countries, bring in valuable revenue for the academic sector. But there has been growing concern in recent years over how much visiting Chinese students are influenced by the government in Beijing. [...] After the Queensland clashes, China's consul-general in Brisbane, Xu Jie, insisted that the mainland students were being "spontaneously patriotic". And it is unclear whether such fervour is being directed by state authorities, say China analysts in Australia. "I think there is enough patriotism and pride among Chinese students that these kinds of things are going to happen frequently, even without government direction," said Dirk Van der Kley of China Matters, a Sydney-based think tank. (MORE - details)
RELATED: It’s official: No more Chinese international students Downunder (May 2019)
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-49159820
EXCERPT: Hong Kong is now in its eighth week of street protests, which began with opposition to a controversial extradition bill but have spiralled into wider opposition to the government and Beijing.
As the situation grows yet more tense, the impact is also being felt overseas, particularly among the hundreds of thousands of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong students studying in Australia. At the University of Queensland, the tensions spilled over into violent clashes last week, when a group staging a support rally for the Hong Kong demonstrators were confronted by pro-Beijing protesters. Hundreds of protesters faced off against each other, yelling insults and abuse as the Chinese national anthem was blasted from a speaker.
Videos posted online showed pro-China supporters ripping posters from the hands of opponents, prompting shoving and physical confrontations. Security officials quickly arrived to separate the groups but tensions remained high, said Nilsson Jones, a student journalist who filmed some of the clashes. "Overwhelmingly, the [mainland] Chinese students were the aggressors," he said, adding that they had also turned out in greater numbers.
Hong Kong students who took part in the protests told the BBC they had done nothing to incite that response. [...] The University of Queensland did not speak directly about [...threats to HK students...], but said it was investigating the protests and had offered support to students. "The university is committed to protecting freedom of speech, and has zero tolerance for violence and intimidation," a spokeswoman said. [...] Other posts on social media appear to suggest that tensions have spread to other universities. One showed the destruction of a pro-democracy message board at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
[...] There are just under 200,000 Chinese students in Australia who, like in many countries, bring in valuable revenue for the academic sector. But there has been growing concern in recent years over how much visiting Chinese students are influenced by the government in Beijing. [...] After the Queensland clashes, China's consul-general in Brisbane, Xu Jie, insisted that the mainland students were being "spontaneously patriotic". And it is unclear whether such fervour is being directed by state authorities, say China analysts in Australia. "I think there is enough patriotism and pride among Chinese students that these kinds of things are going to happen frequently, even without government direction," said Dirk Van der Kley of China Matters, a Sydney-based think tank. (MORE - details)
RELATED: It’s official: No more Chinese international students Downunder (May 2019)