Chinese students have sent death wishes to Massey University lecturer, Mr Dong Li, after an article was published in the Dominion Post (Dom Post) newspaper on April 26 regarding a student rally in Canberra to support the Olympic torch relay.
Some of the messages were death wishes aimed at his entire family.
Mr Li, who is a senior lecturer in Chinese, was quoted in the Dom Post article saying that he would not be surprised if the Chinese embassies had organised the Olympic rallies everywhere.
He also mentioned Chinese students being “spoon-fed propaganda since they were in kindergarten” which blurs the line between the nation of China and the Chinese communist regime.
Since the Dom Post article was published, the threats have come in the form of phone calls and emails from Chinese students.
The article makes it clear that Mr Li was only expressing his opinion, and had no hard evidence, although he called it “common sense” to think the Chinese Embassy had been involved when interviewed by The Epoch Times.
“As for the Chinese governments involvement, I said ‘I suspect’. Anyone who has any knowledge of the Chinese government and Embassy will know that this is highly probable, because the university Chinese students union are all financed or funded, at least in part, by the Chinese Embassy,” said Mr Li.
“Of course that does not mean that the students do not believe what they are supporting, because they have been spoon-fed propaganda since they were in kindergarten. And in many cases, those who are able to come to New Zealand to study are those ones who get benefits from the Chinese regime,” he said.
Mr Li also advised The Epoch Times that he strongly disagreed with the Chinese students claiming they represent all Chinese people, when there are many Chinese voices that do not support the Beijing Olympics, but they are stifled.
“Who gave them the right to say they represent all Chinese?” he said.
“In Heilongjiang province, several thousand Chinese farmers signed a petition, risking their lives, to say that ‘we want human rights, we do not want the Olympics’, because their land has been taken away from them. And then what happened? Their leader was arrested, tortured, and sentenced to imprisonment,” said Mr Li.
“And also early last year, a group of prominent Chinese intellectuals signed an open letter to Hu Jintao, asking him to pay more attention to Human rights, and to honour the Chinese government’s promise to improve human rights, instead of spending so much money and giving so much publicity to the Beijing Olympics.”
Mr Li said abusive hate mail is continuning.
“And they threatened to sue me. I really don’t know what they want to sue me [for]. Because I said clearly that I have no proof that their travel had been paid for,” he said.
Mr Li singled out the education methods in modern-day China for the actions of Chinese students nowadays. “This is a result of their education,” he said. “Some commentators in China have said that this generation of Chinese youths are fed with wolves’ milk, because they were taught how to hate. They do not have understandings of universal values, of universal love, and universal respect. No. Just look at their messages on Blogging [sites], or on the internet.”
However, Mr Li did say that the Chinese people were starting to wake up. “But it is very encouraging that many Chinese people can see through this,” he said.
In another similar incident, the editor of Auckland based Chinese newspaper, New Times, Chen Wei Jian, received threats from Chinese students after publishing an open letter about Tibet.
