China 'exporting CCP speech controls to Australia' as second university caught in row

[lost in melb.]

The Chinese Communist Party is harnessing an online cyber policing portal, accessible in Australia, to increase its international influence, as it encourages Chinese internet users to dob in acts that undermine Beijing's image.

Australian universities have been engulfed in a fresh row over academic freedom after co-ordinated protests from nationalist Chinese students forced UNSW to take down social media posts critical of the Chinese Communist Party's actions in Hong Kong. UNSW vice-chancellor Ian Jacobs on Wednesday apologised for the decision, telling staff there was "no excuse for our failure in this instance" and the social media posts should never have been removed.

"I apologise for this mistake and reaffirm unequivocally our previous commitment to freedom of expression and academic freedom," he said.

A second Australian educational institution was embroiled in controversy on Wednesday after Charles Darwin University apologised following complaints from Chinese students. The students said an introduction to an assignment was racist after it stated that the coronavirus had originated in China.

Other Chinese students in Australia say they are afraid of speaking out against the party line, fearful they will be reported by their compatriots to the Chinese embassy or have their families in China targeted.

The Chinese Communist Party's Cyberspace Administration portal aims to enhance China's "right to speak and influence," according to its policy documents, and promote "Chinese wisdom and propose Chinese solutions". The policy documents, first drafted in 2016 but published on April 21 this year, also reveal plans to establish a foreign-language team of "international standardization experts".

UNSW vice-chancellor Ian Jacobs.


The portal has seen a 40 per cent surge since beginning in October 2019, adding 95,000 reports in July alone for political crimes, threats to the Chinese state, rumours, fraud, scams, bad information, pornography and online violence, according to its monthly report.

A three-step online process allows internet users to lodge reports for attacks on the party and state systems, the position of President Xi Jinping, undermining territorial integrity and endangering national security.

Beijing introduced sweeping new national security laws in Hong Kong in June that criminalise dissent in the former British colony. The laws are so broad that they are extraterritorial, meaning pro-democracy sentiment expressed in Australia could be prosecuted in China.

More here...

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/ch...05-p55irf.html

[lost in melb.]

This is how the war with China will rage. Not on the battlefront - soft power and corruption

[Hikari Kisugi]

cough cough tik-tok.....

[KevinD]

Sounds like the chancellor might have his head on right.

[lost in melb.]

Sounds like the chancellor might have his head on right.

Barely. He only caved under pressure. The incentive to make enormous revenue from Chinese students is huge. at the moment most of the Chinese students are probably pro freedom, but they are increasingly pro nationalist now

[FBD]

This is how the war with China will rage. Not on the battlefront - soft power and corruption

You're starting to sound crazy! We need to have you checked for the fbd virus