University Criticised For Soft Approach to CCP Influence and Propaganda

University Criticised For Soft Approach to CCP Influence and Propaganda
Hundreds of vaccinated international students can return to NSW by 2022. Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
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The Australian University of Sydney has been criticised by international students and human rights advocates over two incidents that saw the promotion of the Chinese Communist Party, leading to concerns about the student’s freedom and the reach of the regime in Australia’s education sector.

The first incident involved the promotion of a compulsory political study app used by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) for political indoctrination of the youth. In a video on the Chinese social media app Douyi, the Chinese version of TikTok, an international student speaking in Mandarin welcomes students to the communist thought study session, all the while with the USYD’s name and badge looming large in the background.

“Everyone is talking about China’s Sydney campus. Isn’t the Youth Great Study coming?” the USYD student wrote in the July 26 post introducing the video.

“Learn new thoughts and strive to be a new youth. Welcome to this Youth Great Study online League lesson,” the student says before launching into a poetic quote.

The post and its references to the university have been criticised by fellow international USYD students like Aaron Chang, a Chinese democracy activist who is known for dressing as Winnie the Pooh to satirise CCP leader Xi Jinping.

Mr. Chang said that the study group is actually a communist indoctrination program that all university students in China under the CCP’s one-party rule are compelled to study.

“This is an app that basically all students in China have been victimized by… I hope the school [USYD] can condemn this mandatory learning,” he told The Epoch Times on July 30.

Aaron Chang spoke at the rally in Sydney on June 4, 2023. (Tom Yu/The Epoch Times)
Aaron Chang spoke at the rally in Sydney on June 4, 2023. Tom Yu/The Epoch Times

Political Indoctrination

Launched by the CCP-affiliated Communist Youth League of China in 2018, Youth Great Study is a political task aimed at guiding young people to “listen to and follow the Party,” according to an official release.

The “League lesson” mentioned in the video constitutes the main content of the project. The lessons are organized in quarters, with about 10 sessions per quarter, starting at the same time as a new semester.

Taking the third episode (“Poverty is not Socialism”) of Season 10 (themed “Winning the Battle against poverty”) as an example, after clicking “Start learning,” the user will enter a 450-second countdown video, which cannot be paused or adjusted, according to a 2020 story by Initium Media.

“In the video, the host asked a lecturer of the Marxism Institute: Some Western capitalist countries are much richer than China, does it mean that achieving common prosperity does not have to take the socialist road?

“The lecturer’s answer began with a Marxist analysis of different social systems, saying that capitalism achieves prosperity for a few based on exploitation, and went on to say that the COVID-19 pandemic is like a mirror, reflecting the hypocrisy and powerlessness of capitalism,” reads the story.

The university replied that the ability of its students and staff to learn, research, and collaborate in an environment free from interference is a priority.

“If anyone in our community has experienced or is aware of that kind of behaviour, we urge them to let us know so we can look into it and provide appropriate support. We also work hard to ensure none of our students or staff suffer unfair disadvantage or discrimination due to their political beliefs, as outlined in our Charter of Freedom of Speech and Academic Freedom,” a USYD spokesperson of the university said in an email.

“Through our Getting Started program students are encouraged to complete our Engaging with Civility training module which outlines values and expectations in the Student Charter around bullying, discrimination, harassment, freedom of speech and respectful engagement; and avenues for support.

University Criticised For Playing CCP Anthem at Event

Mr. Chang has also been critical of the university after it played the “March of the Volunteers” live on the auditorium organ at its welcome event for international university students.

In a Twitter post, he said that it appeared the university cared more about money than its students.

“Uni played Chinese national anthem in international welcome event,” Mr. Chang wrote.

“Good job USYD, I would recommend you to apply the funding from Chinese government not Australia government from this year.”

The young activist called on his alma mater to prioritize moral principles over economic interests.

“You can’t lose your face for money,” he said. “You are a top 20 university in the world, not a business.

“Your responsibility is not only to make money and do academic research with the money you earn but also to educate the public, defend human values and basic human rights. Otherwise, I don’t think you deserve to be a top university in the world.”

The university replied that not only China’s national anthem was played on the occasion.

“We recently welcomed international students to campus for the start of Semester 2 at an event which featured anthems from a number of different countries, based on student registrations and representation,” a spokesperson said in the email to The Epoch Times.

Australian Human Rights Activist Speaks Out

Drew Pavlou, an anti-CCP human rights activist and former Senate candidate, echoed the criticism, citing the communist regime’s poor human rights record.

“They should not be playing the national anthem, which glorifies the CCP on campus at an international student event,” he told The Epoch Times on July 29.

“The event was for welcoming international students, presumably. Many of them would be from Taiwan and many other countries across Asia, and it’s really bizarre that they would play an anthem that glorifies the CCP.”

Mr. Pavlou, who was suspended for two years by the University of Queensland in 2020 after speaking out against the CCP, pointed out that the communist regime’s influence in Australia is not limited to USYD.

“It seems that the University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, University of Queensland, a lot of the top universities in Australia, they’re consistently bending over backwards to accommodate Chinese government officials, to CCP propaganda.

“Basically, they’re trying so hard to bring in money from China, and they are thinking only about the money instead of human rights and not thinking about providing a safe learning environment on campus for Chinese students who might want to learn about democracy.”

Drew Pavlou posed for a photo on the campus of the University of Queensland in Brisbane on Sept. 1, 2020 (Patrick Hamilton /AFP via Getty Images)
Drew Pavlou posed for a photo on the campus of the University of Queensland in Brisbane on Sept. 1, 2020 Patrick Hamilton /AFP via Getty Images

Mr. Pavlou believes that Chinese students new to Australia might want to learn about free speech, democratic freedoms, and the true history of China. Additionally, he said they might also want to debate and discuss the role of the communist party in Chinese society and Chinese politics.

“Sadly, it’s a lost opportunity because where we could be helping educate the next generation of China to support democratic freedoms, to think critically about the role of the CCP… Instead, we’re just trying so hard to accommodate the communist party at every turn.”

The 24-year-old recounted a recent experience of himself at the University of Queensland (UQ).

“The past week, they made it really hard for us to try to have a protest on campus about the Chinese Student and Scholars Association, which is accredited with the Chinese Embassy, and UQ had a lot of security there. They put a lot of pressure on us. It’s very difficult,” he said.

“Foreign interference is activity conducted by or on behalf of a foreign principal which is coercive, deceptive, clandestine or corruptive and contrary to Australia’s sovereignty, values and national interests,” a spokesperson for the Department of Home Affairs told The Epoch Times of concerns about the CCP’s politicisation of Australia’s education sector in an email.

“It is unacceptable for any foreign government to target members of our community in ways that prevent individuals exercising their fundamental rights and freedoms in Australia.”

The spokesperson said that any acts of foreign interference would be prosecuted according to Australian law.

‘Guidelines to Counter Foreign Interference’

They added that the federal government is working in collaboration with universities across the nation to monitor for attempts of foreign interference through its University Foreign Interference Taskforce, which has released guidelines for institutions to implement.

“The Guidelines assist Australian universities to strengthen their resilience to foreign interference risks, while protecting students, staff and research that contributes to Australia’s prosperity,” the spokesperson said.

However, there have been concerns over how well the guidelines will be enforced. Sydney-based lawyer Mark Tarrant said that more is needed to ensure compliance with the guidelines, suggesting that legislation is needed at both the federal and state level.

In a submission to the NSW Parliament on the development of the tertiary education sector, Mr. Tarrant encouraged the Minister for Home Affairs to strengthen its requirements for all international student visa holders.

“The Minister for Home Affairs should make all visas subject to an Australian values Condition—that is, if the visa holder breaches the Australian values Condition, their visa will be cancelled.

“The Australian values statement includes support for parliamentary democracy and the rule of law, freedom of speech, peacefulness and a spirit of egalitarianism that embraces tolerance, mutual respect and compassion for those in need,“ he said. ”Australian values represent everything the Chinese Communist Party is not.”

He also encouraged the state government to take action to protect freedom of speech that supports liberal democratic values on campus.

“Legislation protecting freedom of speech at NSW tertiary institutions should be introduced to protect pro-democracy protestors on NSW campuses. Advocating for the CCP is not freedom of speech but a form of terrorism,” he said. “The Australian values statement should be incorporated into the NSW tertiary institutions freedom of speech legislation.”

UPDATE: The article has been updated to include comment from the Department of Home Affairs.
Cindy Li
Cindy Li
Author
Cindy Li is an Australia-based writer for The Epoch Times focusing on China-related topics. Contact Cindy at [email protected]
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