Latest news with #Chinese-Australian
Epoch Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Nationals Leader Must Decide: Soften on Beijing or Stand Firm on Security: Report
The Nationals Party leadership faces a choice on whether to take a firmer stance on Beijing, or to continue 'moderating' their rhetoric to avoid apparently offending local Chinese-Australian voters, says one report. 'The Nationals have long contained divergent views on the PRC (People's Republic of China). Some figures favour dialogue and trade restoration, while others have pushed a more security-driven and sceptical approach. Party leader David Littleproud has attempted to reconcile both these impulses,' according to the Australia-China Relations Institute at UTS. The Institute noted that on some matters, Littleproud had adopted a more conciliatory tone towards the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)—akin to the Liberal Party—in its report, ' While he previously accused Labor of being weak on the CCP during the 2022 election campaign, Littleproud welcomed the Albanese Labor government's moves to restart trade with China following Beijing's arbitrary decision to bar Australian exports from entering the country. Littleproud He also supported negotiated WTO (World Trade Organisation) dispute settlements, and met with senior CCP officials, including head of the CCP International Department, Liu Jianchao, and Chinese Ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian. At the same time, Littleproud has also outlined national security and human rights issues. He strongly He also called the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin to the Chinese-owned company Landbridge 'a mistake' and supported The party leader also criticised communist China's military pressure on Taiwan, and condemned the treatment of journalist Cheng Lei during CCP Premier Li Qiang's 2024 visit. While endorsing peaceful dialogue on Taiwan, he has emphasised self-determination and cautioned Beijing against 'sending missiles one over one another.' The China 'Hawks' Some of the tougher voices within the National Party include Senator Matt Canavan and New England MP Barnaby Joyce. For instance, Canavan, in response to the CCP's live fire exercises in the Tasman Sea, He also called for Trump-style tariffs, stating it was 'not safe' to do extensive business with the CCP. Joyce, as National's leader in 2021, He described the CCP's live fire exercises as 'practicing for war' and urged Australia to 'wake up.' He also suggested future parliamentary visits to Taiwan should include government officials or ministers. Littleproud meanwhile has pledged not to shift the Nationals 'to the left or the right.' Rather, his approach has been 'not to chase extremities, but to use common sense … and to actually be the sensible centre.' The brief break up of the Liberals and Nationals threw into starker relief some of the conflicting views within the parties on China policy, according to the research.
Epoch Times
27-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
They Swung Behind Labor, Now This Migrant Group Is Calling for Action on ‘Crushing' Inflation
As the dust settles on the historic election victory for Labor, cost of living remains the top concern for one of Australia's largest migrant communities. 'I think it's time to pay attention to our survival,' Vivian Kong, a coffee and ice cream shop owner in Sydney, told The Epoch Times. 'Rent is so high, electricity bills are high, and the cost of living has skyrocketed—it's three to four times higher than it was over a decade ago, but our income hasn't even doubled. 'Just look around: so many shops have closed down, and so many spaces are sitting empty.' Kong's shop is located in Epping, a suburb in northern Sydney that is home to a large population of residents with Chinese ancestry. In the recent federal election, electorates with large Chinese-Australian populations consistently swung toward the centre-left Labor Party. In Bennelong, which borders Kong's area, Labor candidate Jerome Laxale won the seat with a 7.9 percent two-party-preferred swing away from Liberal candidate Scott Yung, who is of Chinese descent. Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media at a doorstop during Lunar New Year celebrations at Eastwood Plaza along with MP Jerome Laxale (R) and NSW Premier Chris Minns (L) in Sydney, Australia on Feb. 4, 2023. AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi Similar trends were mirrored across the country with Labor benefitting from swings in Melbourne's Menzies, Aston, and Chisholm; Sydney's Reid and Banks; Brisbane's Moreton; Perth's Tangney; and Adelaide's Sturt. China-born individuals comprise about 2.6 percent, or 700,000 people, of the country's population, according to the Inflation, Labor Costs: Business Owners Kong says because so many shops are shutting down, suppliers are now reluctant to offer credit, or time, to pay for goods or services after delivery. 'So it's even tougher for us—every order has to be paid for upfront, which creates even bigger problems,' said Kong. Small businesses often live and die based on available cash reserves. 'If the government could provide small businesses with some loans or support—like working capital assistance—it would make a big difference.' Henry Zhao, a permanent resident and food and beverage business owner, echoes Kong's concerns about the cost of running business. 'The prices have increased drastically, and the cost of services in various areas has also risen,' he told The Epoch Times. 'For our industry, the labour costs are also rising. As the prices go up, wages have to increase as well. Therefore, for us, labour costs have become even higher.' Power costs are another issue, according to Energy Consumers Australia, with businesses that use about 20,000 kWh per year seeing electricity prices An aerial view of the Bungala Solar Farm in Port Augusta, South Australia, on Feb. 25, Housing: Older Migrant Huang Ming, now half-retired in his senior years, pays more attention to healthcare. 'Take the GP (general practitioners) fees for example—although there was a promise made, nothing has materialised. You still have to pay $20 for each consultation,' he told The Epoch Times. In February, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced an additional In 2023, the Labor government had Related Stories 5/17/2025 5/14/2025 In this photo illustration, an Australian Medicare card is displayed with prescription medicines in Sydney, Australia on March 25, 2025. LisaAnother thing Huang cares about is housing—renting and buying a home. 'We're not even expecting prices to drop, but can the government at least control the rate of price increases? Especially in places like Burwood, where prices have gone up so much,' he said. As of April, the 'These are really just the basics of people's livelihoods, right?' Huang said. Concern About Managing the Economy: Salon Owner Wendy Xu, a beauty salon owner in Sydney's Hurstville, is concerned about an economic downturn. 'Our beauty business has slowed down a lot because people are facing high costs and expenses, so they are cutting back on their spending. Customers are fewer now,' she said. 'Things like mortgage payments and electricity bills, it's really crushing people. Especially last year and the year before, when interest rates went up wave after wave, it was just too much for people to handle.' The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) began a series of interest rate increases in May 2022 in response to historically low interest rates during the pandemic and for many years before The RBA's increases culminated at a 4.35 percent peak in November 2023—the highest level since December 2011. In response to easing inflationary pressures, the RBA has recently Despite these reductions, mortgage rates remain elevated compared to pre-2022 levels, continuing to exert financial pressure on borrowers. Xu hopes the government can step up. 'After the pandemic, each of us is under a lot of pressure, physically and financially. And now, with our health, we need to pay more attention to self-care,' she said. 'If people are unwell, they still have to buy health supplements ... So it's not just the financial pressure of daily life, but also the pressure of maintaining our health.' Concern for Seniors Moving to Retirement Villages Solomon Zhang, a permanent resident and aged care worker with a Certificate IV in Ageing Support, called for the government to address issues related to retirement villages. 'All retirement villages in Australia are just opportunities for real estate investment companies to make money,' he told The Epoch Times. Zhang noted the difference between purchasing a unit in a village and regular home ownership. Purchasing a unit in a retirement village can often result in a financial loss upon exit, he explained. For instance, a $1,000,000 unit might return only $650,000 to $700,000 after 5 to 10 years, primarily due to exit fees and depreciation. 'They don't explain these exit terms clearly when they're selling it to you, especially to the elderly … Many elderly people feel they've been scammed because the services provided are very limited…They often don't disclose the full details, like refunds or other issues.' Zhang called for an overhaul of the pricing structure, particularly to deal with management fees. 'If the government could step in a little—say, by organising some volunteers to help clean up the surroundings, or providing some financial subsidies to improve the public entertainment areas—it could make a big difference,' he said. 'It wouldn't take much, even less than the cost of public services, to improve these retirement villages.' Australia-China Relations Aside from life down under, there are also concerns about the new government's relationship with Beijing. 'I hope the Labor government understands that within the Chinese community, there are many people who do not want Australia to be influenced by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),' said Lin Bin, a Hong Kong-born political analyst with a PhD in political science from the University of NSW. 'A very simple example is that many Chinese immigrants came to Australia precisely because they did not want to live under the CCP's authoritarian rule. They came here hoping to live a life of freedom and democracy.' Protesters hold placards demanding the release of Australian writer Yang Hengjun in Canberra, Australia, on March 20, 2024. David Gray/AFP via Getty Images As a former candidate for the In November 2021, in response to Beijing's 'I hope the Australian Labor government will stand more firmly in protecting the national interest of Australia and not be too soft in dealing with the CCP,' Lin said. 'Many of us hope that Australia remains an independent, free, and democratic nation. We hope the Australian government can give Chinese Australians a sense of security and resist CCP infiltration.'
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Unbearable suffering': Australian writer pens letter from Chinese jail
An Australian novelist jailed in China has in a letter to his supporters and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese detailed his "unbearable suffering" as he enters his seventh year in detention. Chinese-born Yang Hengjun was last year handed a suspended death sentence by a Beijing court on espionage charges, something he denies. In his letter, he thanked Albanese, saying he and the Australian government were doing their "utmost to bring me home for medical care and reunification with my family". Foreign minister Penny Wong said in a statement that she and Albanese were "deeply moved" by Dr Yang's letter and wanted to "see him home in Australia, reunited with his family". Dr Yang, who previously worked for China's Ministry of State Security, blogged about Chinese state affairs, but his writings often avoided direct criticisms of the government. He was living in New York but travelled to Guangzhou in January 2019 with his wife and her child - both Chinese citizens - on a visa run when he was intercepted at the airport. His case has mostly unfolded behind closed doors since then and in 2024, he was handed the suspended death sentence, which is typically converted to life imprisonment after two years. At the time, Albanese described the sentence as an "outrage". But China maintains that Yang's case was "rigorously handled" in accordance with the law. It also warned Australian officials not to interfere in the case. Dr Yang had denied the charges but did not appeal the ruling out of concerns that it would delay medical care, his family said. There have been worries about his declining health, after a large cyst was found on one of his kidneys. In his latest letter, Dr Yang thanked the country's leaders as well as the Australian Embassy in China for their support during the "hardest and darkest chapter" of his life. "All of this solicitude and solace has helped me to bear what has been untold and unbearable suffering," he wrote. He said that he still loved both China and Australia - the former the "motherland in which [he] was born, brought up in, and made strong", and the latter his "beloved children's motherland". "I have a dream. That there is no war, no bullying, no incivility. People of different colours, cultures, and nationalities love each other like sisters and brothers." Wong described Yang's letter as "a message of profound courage, resilience and hope despite extraordinarily difficult circumstances". Several people in both countries have been arrested and charged with espionage and foreign interference as ties between both countries have been shaky in recent years. In 2023, Chinese-Australian businessman Sunny Duong was found guilty of trying to influence a former minister with donations. The same year, Australian journalist Cheng Lei was released after more than three years of detention in China on accusations of "illegally supplying state secrets overseas". China gives detained Australian suspended death sentence The Australian 'democracy peddler' detained in China
Epoch Times
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Does Standing up to the CCP Cost Votes?
News Analysis The recent federal election saw substantial swings to the centre-left Labor Party in electorates with major Chinese-Australian populations. They include the Melbourne seats of Menzies, Aston, and Chisholm, Brisbane's Moreton, as well as the Sydney seats of Bennelong, Reid, and Banks. In the northern Sydney seat of Bennelong, which encompasses the suburbs of Chatswood and Eastwood—where 40 percent of residents are of Chinese heritage—Labor MP Jerome Laxale gained a 9.2 percent swing after preferences against Liberal Party candidate Scott Yung, who himself is of Chinese ancestry. About 90.9 percent of votes have been counted for that seat. However, upon deeper examination, some candidates like the Liberal's Keith Wolahan in Menzies actually saw their primary vote hold firm, which may be attributed to his strong Chinese social media presence. Yet one conclusion propagated is that Chinese-Australian voters were concerned about the state of official ties between Canberra and Beijing, with the subtext that calling out the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for its human rights abuses or military aggression could damage ties and as a result, cost votes. It's also a view shared by a 2022 Liberal Party internal review. Liberals Stayed Quiet on Policies That Could Resonate With Chinese Voters Some argue the results should be looked at more holistically. 'Many Chinese people—especially those who have already become citizens here—actually identify strongly with the values of Australia,' said Feng Chongyi, a China studies associate professor at the University of Technology Sydney, in an interview with The Epoch Times. 'But the [former] Liberal Party leader [Peter Dutton's campaign] was too weak—he tried to please everyone, and didn't actually offer a real alternative [to Labor].' He said the Coalition's entire election campaign was 'very passive' and failed to champion a conservative agenda, such as freedom of speech and religion, smaller government, pro-business policies, pro-education, and opposing net zero. Feng also pointed out that Dutton's inability to discipline the party's moderate faction damaged his campaign, meaning the Liberal Party did not promote the policies that normally resonate with Chinese-Asians. In turn, this also allowed alternative messages to run free—on Chinese social media platforms like RedNote and WeChat—particularly when Liberal Senator Jane Hume's comment about ' National Security Argument Not Prosecuted Hard Enough: Professor The professor also said the Liberal Party did not emphasise the importance of Australia's national security. 'The Liberal Party was supposed to show that if they came to power, they would prioritise national security and not profit from unjust means [through trading with the CCP],' said Feng. 'In fact, after so many years, the Australian public is already well aware of the Chinese communist regime's malicious nature and the threat it poses to Australia.' Feng was critical of the shift in tone from the opposition leader, who softened his hardline stance to appease Chinese-Australian voters 'The relationship with China will be much stronger than it is under the Albanese government,' Dutton said in January. While both sides of politics used more restrained rhetoric when discussing China, the CCP had other ideas. In March, three Chinese warships appeared with no prior notice along the east coast of Australia, conducted a weapons exercise in international waters between Australia and New Zealand, and Others Say National Security May Not Have Been a Big Concern Graham Young, executive director of the Australian Institute for Progress, said appeasement for the sake of votes had little value, noting that national security was not a major concern for voters this time. 'In this election, most voters were not attuned to the issue,' he told The Epoch Times in an email. Rowan Callick, an expert associate at the National Security College of the Australian National University and an industry fellow at the Griffith Asia Institute, said there was not enough hard evidence to support the findings of a 2022 Liberal Party review that suggested Chinese voters did not like the former Morrison government's tough stance on the CCP. 'Too much of this concern is anecdotal, and sometimes presumes that people of Chinese ethnicity are all or mostly from the PRC [People's Republic of China],' he Callick said that despite lacking empirical evidence, the party naturally connected the voting patterns in those electorates, with Australia-China ties, and had adopted a more 'disciplined' approach to discussing the Chinese regime. 'One can understand, therefore, the current response. But this results in a distorted policy-making process on China relations.' Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese (L) and CCP Premier Li Qiang leave after their visit to Kaarta Gar-up Lookout in Kings Park in Perth, Australia on June 18, 2024. Richard Wainwright/Pool/AFP via Getty Images The Loyalty Factor Chin Jin, a PhD in social sciences and the Australia-based global chair of the Federation for a Democratic China, believes old loyalties may have been a factor. He said many older Chinese immigrants came after the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre and may have fled gratitude towards late Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke, a similar dynamic plays out in Vietnamese communities. Hawke approved 42,000 permanent residency visas for Chinese students in Australia at the time. 'I believe many within this group continue to be deeply appreciative of Bob Hawke and the Labor Party, and they certainly had an impact in this election,' Chin, a beneficiary of Hawke's decision himself, told The Epoch Times. Nothing to Fear With Standing Up to the CCP Meanwhile, Feng referred to 2022 Beijing imposed trade barriers across several Australian exports, including lobster and wine, in retaliation for what the CCP called Australia's 'misguided government policies'—including calling for an independent inquiry into the origins of COVID-19, and banning Huawei from its 5G network. 'The myth that Australia's economy is dependent on the Chinese market has been debunked by facts. Australia's exports as a whole rose during period of economic coercion by the CCP regime, partly because China depended on Australia for the supply of iron ore or metallurgical coal and partly because alternative markets could be found for Australia's other goods,' Feng said. 'That's why the Liberal absolutely should speak out and say: we don't have to rely on the Chinese regime — they simply can't be trusted. If you rely on them, they'll use that dependence to blackmail you again.' Related Stories 4/4/2025 4/29/2025
Sydney Morning Herald
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
‘Let freedom ring': Jailed writer Yang Hengjun pens letter from inside Beijing jail
Singapore: Jailed Chinese-Australian writer Yang Hengjun has expressed his hopes of being free to swap stories, tears and laughter with his readers as he endures 'the hardest and darkest chapter of my life' in a letter penned from inside a Beijing prison. Addressed to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, it is the first letter that Yang has written for public release since his detention in China more than six years ago. Written from inside Beijing No. 2 Prison, where he is serving a suspended death sentence for murky espionage offences, Yang describes his heartfelt love for both Australia and China, and his gratitude for his supporters and the efforts by the Australian government 'to bring me home for medical care and reunification with my family'. The letter was released through an authorised process involving Australian officials, in what his supporters are holding on to as a glimmer of hope that the ongoing thaw in the bilateral relationship may herald more positive outcomes for Yang's plight. Yang thanked Albanese, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and consular officials for their support, and was upbeat about the prospect that he may one day be freed. 'I genuinely expect to sit side by side with my readers one day, sharing 'democracy-peddler '-style stories; sharing laughter, tears and dreams,' Yang, 60, wrote in the letter, dated January 10, but released by his supporters on Wednesday. 'I feel all of your support beside me as I stagger through the hardest and darkest chapter of my life, allowing me to immerse in the warmth of humanity.' 'It has helped me to understand the value of words and deeds of a government of the people, by the people, for the people - to enable me to fully understand the true meaning of being an Australian citizen. The Chinese-born pro-democracy blogger and academic worked for China's Ministry of State Security before becoming an Australian citizen in 2002. He has been detained in China since he was arrested at Guangzhou airport in 2019 after arriving with his wife from their home in New York.
