Bernardi wants Chinese student snitchers expelled
A “snitching scandal” involving Chinese students at the University of Adelaide highlights communist infiltration, says Cory Bernardi.
A “snitching scandal” involving Chinese students at the University of Adelaide highlights a threat of Chinese communist infiltration, Australian Conservatives senator Cory Bernardi says.
The South Australian senator yesterday called on the university to conduct a thorough investigation, and for any international students found to be “dobbing in fellow nationals” to the Chinese embassy for participating in democracy to be suspended or expelled.
“Chinese Communist Party influence is reaching into our education system through so-called ‘Confucius’ Institutes, affecting our young people’s lives on campus, reaching into business dealings and ultimately corrupting our politics,” Senator Bernardi said.
“It is disgraceful that in modern Australia, a student would snitch on another student to their home country for supporting Western democracy. Were their family members visited by the Chinese secret police? Is it safe to go home to see family?”
Senator Bernardi said Australian universities were founded on “upholding freedom of speech, association, expression, belief and thought”.
“These Stasi-style informant tactics should be stamped out in modern Australia … tactics such as snitching smack of the tentacle-reach of an oppressive regime reshaping Australian life.” he said.
The Australian yesterday revealed Chinese students at the University of Adelaide had been threatened with being reported to the Chinese embassy in Canberra for allegedly campaigning against communism during student elections.
A key complaint was that a threatening message was circulated among Chinese students at the university via the messaging platform WeChat.
The message targeted students who were promoting a political banner that said “Jobs not Socialism”.
A spokesman for the International Student Association Inc yesterday said some students were “currently being rewarded for repeatedly and purposely breaking the rules of the student union election” and publishing materials “intended to cause harm and scare students”.
The China embassy did not respond to a request for comment.
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