Chinese Influence in Australian Higher Education
by Matthew Holmes
Since Xi Jinping’s ascension to the General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, efforts in exerting influence over Australia’s political and cultural landscape have markedly increased. Since 2012, Australia has seen an increase in the number of Chinese funded organizations as well as those linked with the CCP’s United Front. A large portion of this effort has been aimed towards educational institutions across the country, which house large portions of Chinese nationals — approximately 10% at the end of 2018. Although some dismiss the concerns of Chinese influence as a resurgence of the old ‘yellow peril’ narratives of Australia’s past, it raises genuine anxieties for many Australians as to what values and agendas the Chinese Communist Party is attempting to inject into their institutions.
The issue boiled up in multiple flashpoints over the last few years.For example, 2019, a scandal arose when it was revealed that the University of Technology in Sydney (UTS) had been accepting funding from the China Electronics Group Corporation (CETC). UTS launched an internal review of their partnership as a result of CETC’s work in developing technology made for the surveillance and detainment of Uighur Muslims in the Chinese province of Xinjiang. This caused UTS, in addition to other Australian universities that were working closely with Chinese companies, to sever ties as to not be complicit in the human rights abuses perpetrated in Xinjiang. Furthermore, the UTS’s Australian-China Relations Institute (ACRI) sponsored Australian journalists’ travel to China and meetings with top communist party officials, many of whom returned singing praises of the General Secretary and his ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative. The institute was founded in large part by Chinese investors and enjoys the continued support of four Chinese companies. However, this is not to say that the University or ACRI are entirely bought off by China’s interests or that their freedom of expression has been in someway subverted. They have published some materials criticizing the Chinese government and the connections between the university and the Chinese communist party are soft at best.
Despite the indirectness of the relationship, many find it concerning. James Leibold, professor of politics and Asian studies at La Trobe University, attests that “we need places where properly trained experts can study and better understand all aspects of China’s rise — both the positive and the negative — without fear or influence. We do a disservice to this important mission when the reputations of our universities are sullied in the name of one-sided, political advocacy.”
More outrage ensued at Australian university campuses with the onset of the protests in Hong Kong in mid-2019. Institutions such as the University of Queensland (UQ) saw clashes between their large Hong Kong and Chinese populations, some of which turned violent. After one such incident, the Chinese Consul-General in Brisbane and Faculty member at UQ called the acts of Chinese counter protestors “patriotic.” This caused widespread condemnation of what they saw as an encouragement of violence on behalf of a Chinese official. It brought the University into question for appointing the consul-general to a faculty position.
The issue of Chinese influence is a complex one. Given that the Chinese funding of institutes across the country is indirect and protestors are independent students acting on their own accord, it is too simple to say that there is a grand conspiracy for China to take over Australian higher education. But there is a genuine question about how much influence China should be allowed to have in Australian institutions. With free-speech and human rights being core tenants of Australian liberal democracy and its state-funded educational institutions, it is entirely legitimate to question the appropriateness Chinese-funding of institutes. Furthermore, the unease Australians have with universities working with companies like CETC or the appointment of a Chinese consul to a faculty position is entirely understandable.
