In a hearing on Oct. 14 in the Australian Senate, ostensibly to explore issues facing diaspora communities, three Australian citizens of Chinese descent presented their views. When questions began, Tasmanian Liberal Sen. Eric Abetz demanded, “Can I ask each of the three witnesses to very briefly tell me whether they are willing to unconditionally condemn the Chinese Communist Party dictatorship?”
All three were shocked by the question, and one, Osmond Chiu, refused to answer, later telling the Sydney Morning Herald, that he was born in Australia and would not reply “because it was demeaning and I would not legitimize his tactic with an answer.” Another, Yun Jiang, said that to compel people to condemn the Chinese government could increase barriers to Chinese Australian community members participating in democratic processes. “We are questioning the loyalty of Chinese Australians before we even speak to them,” she said. “They are no longer fully part of the community. The effect will be to discourage Chinese Australians from becoming politically engaged in a public way.”
Arbetz, who is of German descent, said he considered the CCP to be as evil as the German Nazi Party, justifying the question.
Global Times wrote that the incident “truly laid bare the rising McCarthyism in the land Down Under.”
