Take Hong Kong refugees: media magnate Jimmy Lai’s plea to Australia
Australia must stare down Chinese bullying and accept a wave of new migrants from Hong Kong, media magnate says | WATCH
Australia should stand firm in the face of Chinese bullying and accept a wave of new migrants from Hong Kong in the wake of Beijing’s hardline security crackdown in the territory, according to the region’s most high-profile media magnate.
Jimmy Lai, the founder of the widely read Apple Daily newspaper in Hong Kong, said Australia should loosen its immigration requirements for those wishing to escape the new security laws imposed earlier this year by the Chinese government, but he also stressed the importance of countries such as Australia speaking out in favour of the protection of civil liberties in Hong Kong.
Speaking to The Weekend Australian, Mr Lai urged the Morrison government to follow the British government’s lead in accepting more migrants from Hong Kong following the unrest — provided they meet certain qualifications.
“This will make people from Hong Kong more sure that they have a place to go if they can no longer live here,” he said.
In July, the federal government announced that it would allow up to 10,000 Hong Kong passport holders currently in Australia to extend their stay in the country for five years, and eventually apply for permanent residence.
But there was no immediate change in the numbers of permanent migrants to be accepted from Hong Kong.
Since then, 2584 Hong Kong passport holders have had their visas extended under these arrangements, according to the Department of Home Affairs.
Applications for temporary graduate and skills shortage visas have also doubled between July and last Friday.
There have been 279 temporary graduate visa applications in that time, compared to 137 in that period last year, with 56 skilled shortage applications compared to 26.
“Australia is saying it will be more liberal in accepting migrants — but how many?” Mr Lai said.
“What is the qualification?
“People are encouraged that you are liberalising your immigration policy but they don’t know the specifics.”
Australia was a preferred migration destination for many people from Hong Kong who decided to leave ahead of the British handover in July 1997.
The 71-year-old publisher — a fierce critic of Beijing’s crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong last year — also called on Australia to exploit its trading leverage over China.
Mr Lai said in many ways, Australia held “the upper hand over China”, and thus enjoyed a greater bargaining position than it realised.
“Australian should not give a damn about Chinese bullying,” Mr Lai said.
“Australia has a lot to depend on its trade with China, but it doesn’t mean it doesn’t have leverage.
“All the natural resources China has to buy from Australia, they cannot buy from elsewhere. The Chinese need Australia more than Australia needs them.
“China being your biggest trading partner doesn’t mean that they have the biggest leverage over you.
“You have the leverage over them.”
Mr Lai, who is a rarity in Hong Kong media circles insofar as he has been openly critical of the Chinese government in recent years, said Scott Morrison deserved credit for publicly airing Australia’s recent concerns relating to its dealings with China, particularly over sensitive issues such as security and trade.
But he said it was important that Australia stayed closely aligned with the US and its other Five Eyes partners in its foreign policy towards China.
“Trump’s policy in China has given them (the Australian government) the support they can rely on to change their own policy,” Mr Lai said.
“Without the US changing its policy, I don’t think the Australian government would have changed the policy toward China to be as hard line as it is now.”
Mr Lai, who earlier this month was acquitted of criminal intimidation charges dating from 2017 — the accusations stemmed from an incident with a staffer from a rival, pro-Beijing media outlet — also warned that Australia must do more to protect its journalists in China, when and if they are allowed to return. He said the recent midnight visits to two Australian journalists in China — the ABC’s Bill Birtles and the Australian Financial Review’s Mike Smith — and their hasty departure was part of a general crackdown on foreign journalists by Chinese authorities.
Mr Lai said he would not advise them to return to China until the Australian government had discussed their situation with Chinese authorities.
“The Australian government needs to talk to the Chinese government to see what the reasons are and what kind of criteria they set for reporting in China,” he said.
“Journalists need to know where the red line is.
“If they draw up the red line very clearly, the Australian journalists can decide for themselves whether going back to China to report has any more use.
“You can’t send journalists there to be abused by the Chinese authorities any time they like.”
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