Name: Chinese Australians caught in the crossfire from Beijing's Australian travel warning - ABC News
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Chinese Australians caught in the crossfire from Beijing's Australian travel warning - ABC News

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ShareAs Canberra determines its next steps regarding Beijing's warning against travel to Australia, so too are the Chinese-Australian diaspora, who may be unduly affected by the move's diplomatic fallout. On Saturday, the , citing a "significant increase" in racist attacks on "Chinese and Asian people"."Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial discrimination and violence against Chinese and Asian people in Australia have seen a significant increase," the ministry statement said."The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to enhance their safety awareness and do not travel to Australia". The move comes and banned , a decision some say is a .While the Morrison Government resoundingly dismissed Beijing's warning, has shown there has been a spike in racist attacks toward people of East Asian appearance during the coronavirus pandemic.This has ranged from Asian migrants , to high-profile acts of vandalism including .However, official data from national and state bodies designed to capture instances of racist discrimination do not reflect anecdotal evidence — a disconnect . However, amid this context, some members of Australia's Chinese diaspora have told the ABC that Beijing's blanket warning may end up doing more harm than good. One Chinese-Australian tourism operator, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to the ABC for fear of reprisals from Beijing, echoed this sentiment."I don't think this is a very sensible approach," the operator said. "No doubt that this will hurt the tourism industry in Australia, particularly the travel agencies that mainly focus on the Chinese market." Data from Tourism Australia shows that in 2019, Chinese nationals made up the country's largest inbound market for visitor arrivals, total spend, and overnight stays — a fact that . More than 1.2 million Chinese tourists visited Australia last year, spending $12.4 billion in total — averaging about $9,336 spend per trip or $215 per night. Of this group, 57 per cent were returning visitors. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) last financial year also found that Chinese visitors were the largest group of short-term visitors (visits of less than one year) to Australia, sitting around 1.4 million. "I didn't feel at all the situation is as serious as [the travel warning]," the tourism operator said. "It can be said that Australia is one of the countries that are most friendly towards Chinese in the world". The operator's claim is something that's backed up by Tourism Australia's Consumer Demand Project, which refers to the organisation's annual research that analyses why visitors pick Australia as a destination. Research from 2019 on Chinese "high-value travellers" (HVTs) — tourists who spend higher than average and are knowledgeable about their destinations — found that the second-largest driver for travel to Australia from this group was because the country was considered a "safe and friendly place to visit". Sitting above safety was Australia's "activities and attractions". Sam Huang, a professor of tourism from Perth's Edith Cowan University, said "the future looks very bad for Australian tourism" in light of Beijing's decision. "Tourism has been politicised," Professor Huang told the ABC.The professor cautioned that Chinese tourists "value government perceptions about the relationship between countries", which may have detrimental consequences for the Australian industry. "Some official political stands at the national level will affect the perception and attitude of Chinese citizens," Professor Huang said. Yesterday, Australian Tourism Minister Simon Birmingham said the Chinese Government's advisory had "no basis in fact".He also claimed Australia was "the most successful multicultural and migrant society in the world"."The Chinese-Australian community is a significant and valued contributor to that success story," Mr Birmingham said. But regardless of what Beijing or Canberra say, global travel will remain ground to a halt for the time being because of the coronavirus pandemic. Because of this context, Jie Chen, a China expert at the University of Western Australia, said Beijing's decision was actually designed for diplomatic damage rather than to have immediate consequences. "I would say this is really a continuation of the earlier attempt to punish Australia, such as the high tariffs imposed on barley and ban on four abattoirs stores," Dr Chen said. He also said the weekend release of China's travel warning suggested that Beijing was hoping to capitalise on , to drum up fears over safety. But Dr Chen noted that many Chinese-Australians were also participants in the protests, and suggested Beijing's decision appeared more like propaganda. "[Beijing] tries to paint Australia as having anti-Chinese, anti-Asian sentiment in such a serious light, but I don't think that's true at all," Dr Chen said. "I would say the silent majority of [Chinese] tourists would still come here". Emily Sun, a Chinese-born resident of Sydney, shared similar sentiments to that of Dr Chen, telling the ABC that Beijing's alert made her peers unnecessarily "angry". "People who do not usually express their opinions, or those who do not care about politics, are all very angry," Ms Sun said. "[This warning raised] unnecessary worry among relatives and parents back in China."Ms Sun added that her friends felt the spectre of discrimination more strongly in China than they did in Australia, especially regarding regional and economic discrimination, as well as the Central Government's household registration system. The system, officially known as hukou, actively hinders where Chinese people choose to live, which has traditionally prevented people from making a permanent move from the regions to cities. Similarly, in China's semi-autonomous territory of Xinjiang, the region's Muslim ethnic minority Uyghurs have been found to be routinely discriminated against on a grand scale, which includes widespread surveillance and bars on travel outside of the territory. At least 1 million Uyghurs are being held in detention, which has been labelled the . When asked about the spate of coronavirus-triggered racist incidents in Australia, Ms Sun said this wasn't the norm. "Scum is everywhere, and those do not represent the mainstream attitude towards Chinese and Asians in Australia," Ms Sun said. 7 Jun 20207 Jun 2020Sun 7 Jun 2020 at 7:59am, 7 Jun 20207 Jun 2020Sun 7 Jun 2020 at 11:41amMore on:

ShareAs Canberra determines its next steps regarding Beijing's warning against travel to Australia, so too are the Chinese-Australian diaspora, who may be unduly affected by the move's diplomatic fallout. On Saturday, the , citing a "significant increase" in racist attacks on "Chinese and Asian people"."Due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, racial discrimination and violence against Chinese and Asian people in Australia have seen a significant increase," the ministry statement said."The Ministry of Culture and Tourism reminds Chinese tourists to enhance their safety awareness and do...

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Chinese Australians caught in the crossfire from Beijing's Australian travel warning - ABC News

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