Australia still the first choice of Chinese students

Warnings from its leaders to stay away from Australia appear to have had little impact on Chinese peoples’ attitudes.

Chinese tourists on the shores of Green Island, in Far North Queensland. A new survey still sees Australia rank highly as a travel and study destination for Chinese.

Chinese people have chosen Australia as the overseas country they most want to study in and their second favourite travel destination, according to a new poll published by the state controlled Global Times.

The poll — conducted by the Global Times and Beijing Foreign Studies University — found that Australia remains a hugely popular destination with China’s urban middle class, despite the ongoing political turmoil in the bilateral relationship.

Despite the poll finding widespread positive sentiment towards Australia among most Chinese people, a Beijing-based academic involved in the survey warned about the Morrison government’s deviation during the COVID-19 pandemic from the bilateral relationship’s “right direction”.

“This does not serve Australia’s own interests, nor does it help the region fight the epidemic,” said Han Feng, a professor at the Australian Studies Center of Beijing Foreign Studies University.

According to the poll, Chinese people are much less concerned about the actions of the Australian federal government.

Only 13.7 per cent of those surveyed said they thought Australia’s domestic politics was the “biggest disturbing factor for China-Australian relations”.

Almost half — 49.5 per cent — thought the biggest disturbing factor was the “influence from the US”. A further 32.5 per cent thought the bilateral trouble came from the “ideology difference” between China, which is ruled by the Chinese Communist Party, and Australia, a liberal democracy.

Despite the poor state of bilateral political relations in recent years, Australia has continued to rank as one of the most favourable countries in China, according to the research by Beijing Foreign Studies University.

This year’s survey was conducted from June 11-14, after the Chinese government waged a sustained rhetorical attack on Australia through its foreign ministry and in state controlled news outlets, including the Global Times.

Restrictions have been imposed on Australian beef and tariffs hiked onto Australian barley.

Despite Beijing’s anger with the Morrison government over its advocacy of an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, the survey found the favourability rating of Australia among respondents averaged 65.3 points on a 0-100 point scale.

The poll was conducted two months after Beijing’s ambassador in Canberra Cheng Jingye warned about a boycott of Australia by Chinese consumers if “the mood is going from bad to worse”.

Chinese students Kun Liu and Yongxian Li collect charity food hampers for international students struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic in Sydney. Picture: Toby Zerna

“[Chinese] tourists may have second thoughts. The parents of the students would also think whether this place which they found is not so friendly, even hostile, whether this is the best place to send their kids,” said Ambassador Cheng.

The poll indicated that Chinese consumers are untroubled by the politics.

Australia was the most popular destination for overseas study among the survey’s 2,105 respondents, with 16.5 per cent picking it as their first choice.

The UK — whose government’s relationship with Beijing has soured during the coronavirus outbreak — was second, with 13.3 per cent picking it first.

Australia was the second most popular tourist destination, according to the poll, with 16.7 per cent of respondents picking it as their first choice.

Japan — which like Australia, has a security alliance with the US — was slightly ahead, with 17.6 per cent.

Despite the sunny numbers in the survey, the Global Times editorialised that “what matters now is when China-Australia relations will be restored and whether racism in Australia can be brought under control”.

“Australian universities welcome Chinese students, but there are already different voices in Australian politics, which may impact Chinese students’ choices,” the masthead wrote.