UNSW apology in Mandarin letter but is left out of English staff version

Beijing’s propaganda unit is claiming victory after the University of NSW sent a letter to Chinese students expressing regret for any ‘anxiety or distress’ caused by an article calling out human rights issues in Hong Kong.

Beijing’s propaganda unit is claiming victory after the University of NSW sent a letter to Chinese students expressing regret for any “anxiety or distress” caused by an article calling out human rights issues in Hong Kong.

The Global Times newspaper, a mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, has congratulated a group of students at UNSW for soliciting what it has labelled as an “apology” from the university after it published an academic article critical of the situation in Hong Kong.

Human rights protesters at a rally against a new national security law in Hong Kong in July. Picture: Anthony Wallace/AFP

UNSW had initially bowed to pressure from nationalist Chinese students by deleting a tweet linking to the article penned by Human Rights Watch Australia director and ­adjunct lecturer at UNSW Law Elaine Pearson titled “China needs international pressure to end Hong Kong wrongs”.

Riot police called in to a shopping mall where protesters gathered in Hong Kong. Picture: Dale De La Rey/AFP

But following criticism for removing the tweet, UNSW Vice-Chancellor Ian Jacobs sent an email on Wednesday to staff saying it had been “wrong” to delete the post.

The so-called “apology” ­referred to by The Global Times was in a letter sent by UNSW in Mandarin to the concerned students on Monday, with sympathetic language that did not appear in an English version emailed to staff.

The apology letter in Mandarin.

In the letter written in Mandarin, UNSW said it “regrets any anxiety or distress caused to anyone as a result of the diversity of views which are expressed at the university”.

But in the English version Prof Jacobs called deleting the post a “mistake” and reaffirmed the university’s commitment to “freedom of expression”.

According to The Global Times, a Chinese student at UNSW said he was “unsatisfied with the reply”.

“Another student, who ­declined to reveal his name, said that if the university had indeed realised its mistake, it would have apologised and taken down the article at the same time as removing the tweet,” it said.

In her article, Ms Pearson wrote the UN should “establish a special envoy to closely monitor the decline of human rights in Hong Kong”, which was then shared by UNSW on Friday.

UNSW was contacted for comment.

TRANSLATION OF THE MANDARIN LETTER

To all partners of the University of New South Wales,

Thank you for your attention to an article published on 31st July 2020 and its perspectives.

The article had expressed some personal opinions of a part-time lecturer of UNSW and it was shared on UNSW’s official Twitter account, which led to some misunderstanding that the article represented the opinions of the University of New South Wales.

The University of New South Wales does not take any political stance, so any political views expressed by any of our staff or other personnel related to the university cannot represent the position of UNSW. Due to this misleading content, this tweet has been deleted by the university from its official account.

We are deeply disturbed by the trouble and confusion this incident has caused to you. Thank you all for your understanding.

Originally published as UNSW apology in Mandarin letter but is left out of English staff version