Penman/Sword Laugh &Nagging Sister
This is a kind of "intimidation propaganda against Chinese Australians".
Australia's general election will be held on May 21. A piece of false information that was recently widely circulated in the WeChat group of Chinese people in Australia unveiled the "dirty bomb" drama staged during the election. What is not surprising at all is that the speculation of "Chinese spies" has once again become their means of operation.
The Australian media tracked down this "lie" from beginning to end.
The message accused some pro-Labor Chinese and Chinese-language media of "accepting overseas funding", "interfering in the general election", "distorting and criticizing" the Liberal Party and its government, and is now "under investigation by the Australian Intelligence Agency".
The investigation also found that a Melbourne-Based Chinese businessman named Ma Biao was one of the people who forwarded the disinformation the most.
But people like Ma Biao who threw "dirty bombs" involving China are only a minority among The Chinese in Australia. Can they really gain political benefits for themselves by instrumentatizing themselves in this way?
01
According to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the people who tried to spread the Chinese message were a group of hardcore Chinese supporters of the ruling Liberal Party. They targeted Chinese Australians and the media who criticized the Morrison government and supported the Labour Party.
The means of attack is to hype up the suspicion of China-related spies and accuse the other side of interfering in the general election.
The message details four Chinese Australians and four local Chinese media outlets accusing them of "accepting overseas funding", "distorting and criticizing" the Liberal Party and its government, and thus "subject to investigation by the Australian Intelligence Agency".
Australian media tracked down and found that the message appeared as early as mid-March and was subsequently forwarded to more than a dozen WeChat groups "related to Conservative Chinese voters in Australia". The total number of members of those groups, mostly in Australian east coast cities such as Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, totals in the thousands.
Why is this widely disseminated message false?
Because Australia simply doesn't have an intelligence or security agency called the Australian Intelligence Agency. Nor does the message provide any evidence in support of the "allegations" in it.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation also contacted the 4 people mentioned in the message. They all said they had not engaged in "election interference" activities and had not been investigated by the government.
One of the men, surnamed Yang, said it was clearly to weaken the voice of Labour supporters. Because "I support the Labour Party and oppose the conservative government, so I must be a Chinese spy", he believes that this message is to attack the Labor Party's weakness in China and reduce the number of votes among Chinese voters.
The other three are also "well-known" Critics of morrison's government on WeChat.
They argue that this is a "form of intimidating propaganda aimed at Chinese Australians".
A man surnamed Dai said he planned to vote for Labour in this year's general election because deteriorating Relations between Australia and China "will affect those of us who live here". He does not want to see the discrimination against Chinese in Australia growing, especially not for his children.
But apparently, he has been targeted for this, and "someone wants me to shut up."
The four Chinese media mentioned in the message also allegedly published reports criticizing the Morrison administration.
One of the news sites, Queensland Today, has spoken out, saying the message is fake. "We have no political bias and have never been investigated by Australian intelligence agencies. This pre-election rumor is actually a disservice to Australian politics. ”
02
So, who is the group of people who are trying to spread this "lie"?
One of the "typicals" found by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in its investigation was Bill Ma, a veteran member of the Liberal Party.
This Ma Biao is the owner of a furniture store in Melbourne. He is a staunch supporter of michael Suka, a local federal congressman and liberal assistant treasury minister, who campaigned with him at a local shopping mall over the weekend.
Australian media combed and found that on the evening of March 15, Ma Biao posted the news in at least two WeChat groups joined by hundreds of voters who spoke Chinese. There is no evidence that he created the message, but "Mr Ma is one of the people the ABC has found to have forwarded the message the most times".
When asked by the media about this matter, Ma Biao said "innocently" that he saw and decided to forward this message in other WeChat groups, and said that he did not know that the information was fake, "If it is fake, I will definitely regret it."
But after the interview, he turned his head and declared in a "secret WeChat group" that the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reporter was "investigating the dirty bombs we threw at each other."
Ma Biao allegedly wrote in Chinese that "throwing dirty bombs is permitted and encouraged during elections" and that he "only throws well-made, freshly steamed dirty bombs."
Australian media reports also mentioned that Ma Biao's son, Tom Ma, has been a long-term employee of the Liberal Party office and is currently a member of the Suka campaign team.
After the WeChat disinformation was exposed, Maher "clarified" to the media that his father, Maher, did not hold any paid or voluntary positions in the Liberal Party, and that Suka's office had nothing to do with the WeChat disinformation.
03
People like Ma Biao who throw "dirty bombs" involving China do not constitute the majority among The Chinese in Australia.
Chen Hong, director of the Australian Research Center at East China Normal University, told The Australians are mainly divided into three categories.
One is Chinese immigrants with a Vietnamese or Hong Kong background. They are generally out of place with local culture and generally do not care much about politics.
The second category is immigrants from Chinese mainland after the 21st century.
These people were born on the mainland, benefited from reform and opening up, and generally have a high level of education. Although they may have one view of China or another, they have a considerable sense of identification with the Chinese nation and Chinese culture.
The third category is the second and third generation of immigrants who are deeply brainwashed.
They have a Chinese face, and most of them have learned Chinese as children, but they have only some specious understanding of the situation in China. However, this does not prevent them from taking advantage of their Chinese identity or actively or passively seeking some kind of benefit for themselves.
These people who deliberately distort reality to smear China may only seek some sense of existence among the anti-China forces in Australia.
Of course, there is also a small group of people who are already "dissidents" on the mainland, who continue to be active in Australia under the banner of "anti-China."
However, these people have been relatively silent in the Australian general election. Because most Chinese Australians are already "horrified" by Canberra's hard-line Remarks on China, these "dissidents" will only have a counterproductive effect if they incite any negative public opinion related to China.
Chen Hong said that the awareness of Australian Chinese participating in politics and deliberations is getting stronger and stronger, and if in the Australian political arena, more Chinese politicians participate in politics and deliberations, of course, it is a good thing.
However, if you use smearing China and attacking China as your own political capital, it is a short-sighted speculative mentality.
04
This year is a big year for China-Australia relations.
On December 22, 1972, Whitlam, who had just been elected prime minister, announced that he had agreed with Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai on the normalization of Sino-Australian relations. We have now corrected a serious foreign policy mistake, he said.
50 years later, Australia is making another serious foreign policy mistake.
It was Labour leader Albanes' criticism of Canberra over a security deal between China and the Solomon Islands at the first debate in Australia's federal election on April 20.
Morrison sneered: Labor does not admit that this is "because China is trying to interfere in the Pacific" and "why are you on China's side?" ”
Look, China is becoming a topic of conversation in Australia's general election in ways that were unimaginable in the past.
In the words of the New York Times, "For months, Australia's Conservative coalition government has been trying to divert attention from its domestic weaknesses, justifying re-election by suggesting that rivals will draw ties with the powerful and dangerous Chinese government."
Around China, Canberra has made too many bizarre remarks.
Morrison, for example, once accused one of The Labour party's leaders of being a "Manchurian candidate". He himself knew that this statement was outrageous and voluntarily retracted it, but without any evidence, repeated the assertion that "the Chinese government wants the Labor Party to win".
For example, Labour MP Kitchin once slandered a Chinese-Australian as the mysterious "manipulator" behind a foiled foreign election conspiracy.
Australian mining magnate Forrest couldn't look away, saying it was reminiscent of "red elements hiding under the bed" (referring to the irrational fear of communism during the Cold War).
Perhaps, it is not a "fear", just a party struggle.
James Curran, a professor of history at the University of Sydney, said, "[Morrison] is at a political disadvantage and he's looking for all the things that can be done. ”
As a result, Morrison quickly embarked on the "path of the new cold warrior".
Speaking of which, this has something to do with the hawks in Morrison's Liberal Party. Today, in Australian politics, who is the most extreme anti-China person? Australian defense of The Dalton, of course.
Dutton has repeatedly led attacks on China. Not only has he warned that Chinese missiles can reach Australia, but he has even alarmistically suggested that China "could launch a chemical weapons attack on Australia and its allies within 4 years."
All kinds of extreme untruths are just Darton's use of China issues to pave the way for his political future.
Speaking of which, a small group of Chinese people like Mach who stand up for the extreme words and deeds of these anti-China politicians have to think carefully about whether this way of instrumentalization of themselves can work.
Because when the election is over, even after Australia adjusts its China policy, will they still have use value?
In any case, the reality will be that if some Chinese people are willing to become anti-China tools, they can only bear the fate of being tools.
Image from the web