Liberal frontbencher Ted O’Brien has declared politicians have a moral responsibility to protect Chinese Australians from Beijing’s political pressure operations just as they must shield Jews from antisemitism, as he reaches out to the diaspora in Mandarin.
This week, amid lingering concerns about the Liberal collapse in Chinese-Australian heavy electorates, the opposition foreign affairs spokesman will hit WeChat and other social media with videos targeting potential voters in China’s dominant language.
Mr O’Brien, who speaks Mandarin after working and studying in Taiwan and on the Chinese mainland, also has spoken out on the need to reach voters in their first language amid One Nation’s push to abolish SBS and strip back funding for multilingual services.
Writing for The Australian, Mr O’Brien said the first of his main messages in a series of social media videos will be the importance of freedom in Australia and how Chinese-heritage citizens must know the federal government will defend them from outside influence.
He references the Chinese Communist Party’s moves this year to enact a Law on the Promotion of Ethnic Unity and Progress, which gives Beijing the power to pursue legal action against overseas individuals and groups it sees as undermining one Chinese national identity. “(New CCP law) contemplates legal accountability for people beyond China’s borders who are deemed to undermine ‘ethnic unity and progress’.
I have heard from Australians with heritage from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet who are concerned about what this could mean for them,” Mr O’Brien writes. “Australian Jews have been subjected to horrific attacks by those who wrongly hold them responsible for a foreign conflict and the actions of a foreign government.
We should learn from this experience and ensure others do not suffer the same fate, including Chinese Australians who embrace our values but may be targeted because of the actions of Beijing.”
Mr O’Brien says protection from foreign interference from China must be a red line for any federal government. An alleged group of Chinese spies was arrested in Canberra last year, with a court hearing an alleged ringleader was told she would be rewarded by leaders in Beijing if the accused followed instructions and infiltrated the “enemy’s inner circle” at an ACT Buddhist association.
The CCP considers the Buddhist group an “evil cult” and a 56page statement of police facts alleges the three alleged spies were directed by a Public Security Bureau official in China to watch and inform on its members.
Mr O’Brien’s social media campaign follows two elections where the Liberal Party has lost Chinese voter-heavy electorates to Labor, in the wake of tough anti-Beijing approaches by former prime minister Scott Morrison and ex-opposition leader Peter Dutton.
Videos across the next few months will each focus on a distinct Australian value.
