在周四公布的这封公开信中，签名学者们表示，中国政府干涉澳大利亚是真实的，并且活跃于限制包括学者在内的许多在澳中国人的言论自由和结社自由，以及阻碍民主进程和影响国家安全。
该公开信的签署者包括悉尼科技大学副教授冯崇义，澳大利亚国立大学中国问题专家倪凌超博士，Swinburne荣誉教授John Fitzgerald和安全专家Rory Medcalf教授。
这封公开信是对此前的3月19日发布的一封公开信的回应，此前，将近60位澳洲学者联名致信，要求联邦政府取消反间谍法。签名学者认为，出台这个法案是受到了一场"危言耸听"、"诋毁"澳洲华人的辩论所驱动。
悉尼科技大学副教授冯崇义就该公开信的发表接受了本台记者刘俊杰采访。
在采访中，冯博士提到了学者所受到的中共限制澳大利亚言论自由的压力。他说，有些人为了不“得罪”中共对一些研究和言论避而不做或不谈，以免被限制与中国大陆的一些项目合作以及在出入中国境时遇到麻烦。
有学者担心，新的“反间谍法”中规定的“传送和接受情报的人都可能以违反国家安全被依法处理”可能会严重影响学者的学术自由。冯崇义博士就此表示，澳大利亚对“反间谍法”的修订不会影响学术自由，反而会保障学术自由，更不会引起歧视在澳华人，反而会保障在澳华人的言论和结社自由。在采访中，冯博士表示，一些社会团体（例如民主团体）即使要在中文媒体打付费广告也困难重重，在澳华人的结社自由受到了限制。
针对一些学者对澳洲主流媒体对中国以及华人的报道单一，“非黑即白”的质疑，冯崇义博士称，澳洲主流媒体对中国和华人的积极报道非常多，只不过近一年多来才有较多“中国影响力”的“负面”报道。但作为第四权力平衡角色的媒体，对一些问题进行批判性的报道很正常，主要的评判标准应该是报道是否尊重事实。
冯博士还表示，《无声的入侵Silent Invasion》一书主要用的是政府材料和真名实姓的采访等一手资料，以及相关的媒体报道。从社会学研究的角度来看，该书是站得住脚的。
现转发如下：
We the undersigned are scholars of China, the Chinese diaspora, China-Australia relations and Australia’s relations with Asia. We are deeply concerned by a number of well-documented reports about the Chinese Communist Party’s interference in Australia. We strongly believe that an open debate on the activities of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in this country is essential to intellectual freedom, democratic rights and national security. This debate is valuable and necessary.
It is vital that the debate is driven by fact-based research and reporting rather than sensationalism or racism. It is also vital that this debate is not stifled by self-censorship. We firmly believe the current debate is not characterised by racism and that it is crucial for Australia to continue this debate. Indeed, Chinese Australians are among the main initiators and drivers of this debate.
We also believe in the need to encourage careful research into the CCP’s covert and sometimes coercive activities here in Australia and in other countries, where we note that concern is also rising. Identifying, recognising and winding back CCP interference as an unacceptable and counterproductive part of bilateral engagement is a step towards developing a healthy China-Australia relationship over the long term.
We believe that some of the CCP’s activities constitute unacceptable interference in Australian society and politics. We believe these have in a number of instances sought to restrict personal freedoms, impede democratic processes and affect national security, with the potential to harm Australia’s interests and sovereignty. We recognise the need to consider seriously the extraordinary warnings about foreign interference from the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation. These warnings were certainly not made lightly.
Accordingly, the Australian government and civil society must remain vigilant against such activities as:
- Espionage and other unlawful operations by Chinese officials or their proxies on Australian soil
- Attempts to interfere in political elections
- Direct and indirect control of Chinese-language media in Australia
- Intimidation of Chinese Australians (both Australian citizens and permanent residents) for their political views and activities in Australia
- The use of political donations and agents of influence in attempts to change Australian government policies
- The takeover and co-opting of Chinese community groups to censor sensitive political discussions and increase the Chinese government’s presence in the community
- The establishment of Chinese government-backed organisations on university campuses used for monitoring Chinese students
- Interference in academic freedom
- The cultivation of prominent Australians in attempts to sway public and elite opinion
- The covert organisation of political rallies by the Chinese government.
Where clear evidence of such activity exists, the Australian authorities should be willing and able to take appropriate steps to counter foreign interference and threats to sovereignty. We recognise the concern that existing legislative instruments are not sufficient for these purposes and acknowledge the need for laws suitable to today’s circumstances.
Like the many people and interests whose perspectives have been conveyed in recent submissions to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, we hold a range of views about whether the Bills as currently drafted are acceptable or whether they will need some significant amendment. We also recognise that the proposed laws are not targeted solely at China and nor should they be.
In recent years the CCP’s efforts at influence and interference in Australia have become increasingly bold, including an overt agenda to influence Chinese communities in Australia. The recently announced consolidation of Chinese state media outlets under the Propaganda Department and the expansion of the United Front Work Department’s mandate for overseas Chinese suggest that the CCP’s activities in Australia will continue and potentially intensify.
Any and all forms of racism, including against people of Chinese heritage, deserve condemnation. Racism was a deplorable part of Australia’s history and continues to find expression in modern Australia. We oppose it unreservedly.
However, we strongly believe that the growing public discussion on unacceptable CCP activities in Australia and many other countries around the world is not motivated by racism. The debate here has originated from genuine concern for Australia’s national interest including this nation’s fundamental value of tolerance for and protection of minority rights. For some of us, the debate has been motivated by the need to protect the interests of migrants from mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and of those in Uyghur and Tibetan communities in Australia, all of which have been targets of the CCP’s interference.
There is a critical need to clearly distinguish between Chinese people and the CCP and avoid conflating the two in public discussions. We recognise that people of ethnic-Chinese heritage in Australia may have a range of national origins, and that it is inappropriate for the CCP to claim that they should have primary allegiance and emotional connection to a ‘China’ as defined by the CCP.
Alarmist and racist sentiments will exist at the fringes of any debate that touches on ethnic-minority communities, but they do not define the valuable discussion underway about CCP interference in Australia. The solution is not self-censorship but rather the normalisation of this debate as a part of the regular discourse about Australia’s national interests. This is essential to avoid any risk of it being distorted by sensationalism or hijacked by extreme agendas.
Accusations of racism must be taken seriously, and great efforts must be made to avoid and end racism. We are mindful also that racism is precisely the accusation that is encouraged and levelled by the CCP itself as it tries to silence the current discussion. Through these accusations and its efforts to infiltrate Chinese communities, the CCP seeks to position itself as the protector of overseas Chinese and drive a wedge between Chinese communities and the rest of Australia.
Should the CCP’s operations of interference be allowed to continue in Australia, they will fuel divisiveness between Chinese communities and other Australians, weaken the Australian government’s ability to communicate with Chinese communities and harm the democratic rights of Chinese Australians.
We appreciate and welcome the deep and dynamic connections between China and Australia in society, culture and trade. We believe that people of Chinese origin in Australia, whether citizens of this country or not, expect and deserve the same freedoms as others in our democratic system: to express opinions on any question, and to support or criticise any policy. Whether a scholar at an Australian university, or a student from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong or Taiwan, all should be able to express their point of view free of fear or censorship, whether from forces foreign or domestic.
We have in Australia’s mature multicultural society the capacity to conduct this important debate with rigour, balance, honesty and transparency, and without unnecessarily escalating either community tensions or diplomatic differences. We call on all involved in this debate to work towards these ends.
Signatories to the response
- Nathan Attrill, PhD candidate, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
- Børge Bakken, Visiting Fellow, College of Asia and the Pacific, Australian National University
- Mark Beeson, Professor of International Politics, the University of Western Australia
- Nick Bisley, Head of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Professor of International Relations, La Trobe University
- Kevin Carrico, Lecturer, Chinese Studies, Macquarie University
- Anita Chan, Co-editor of The China Journal, Political and Social Change Department, Australian National University.
- Chen Jie, Associate Professor, Political Science and International Relations, the University of Western Australia
- Chin Jin, Greater China researcher, School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney
- Malcolm Cook, Senior Fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, Non-resident Fellow at Lowy Institute
- Feng, Chongyi, Associate Professor in China Studies, University of Technology Sydney
- Antonia Finnane, Professor, School of Historical and Philosophical Studies, University of Melbourne
- John Fitzgerald, Emeritus Professor, Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology
- Gerry Groot, Senior Lecturer in Chinese Studies, University of Adelaide
- Gu Ming, PhD in Political Science/China Studies and post-doc Research Assistant, University of Technology Sydney
- Bruce Jacobs, Emeritus Professor of Asian Languages and Studies, Monash University
- Ian Hall, Professor of International Relations, Griffith Asia Institute, Griffith University
- Terence Halliday, Honorary Professor, School of Regulation and Global Governance, Australian National University
- Ben Hillman, Associate Professor at the Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
- Alex Joske, China researcher and Australian National University student
- Mei-fen Kuo, Research Fellow (DECRA) in History, University of Queensland
- James Leibold, Associate Professor of Politics and Asian Studies, La Trobe University
- Lin Bin, Political Scientist, PhD University of New South Wales
- Paul Macgregor, Historian/heritage consultant on Chinese Australian history, The Uncovered Past Institute
- Anne McLaren, Professor, Chinese Studies, FAHA, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne
- Dominic Meagher, Independent China analyst and economist
- Rory Medcalf, Professor and Head, National Security College, Australian National University
- Paul Monk, former head of the China Desk at DIO, PhD in International Relations from the ANU, author of Thunder from the Silent Zone; Rethinking China (2005)
- Adam Ni, China researcher, Strategic and Defence Studies Centre, Australian National University
- Benjamin Reilly, Professor and Dean, Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs, Murdoch University
- Kaz Ross, Lecturer in Asian Studies, University of Tasmania
- Fred Smith, Lecturer, Department of Security Studies and Criminology at Macquarie University
- Jonathan Unger, Professor, Political and Social Change Department, Australian National University
- Sue Wiles, China scholar, editor and translator
- Wai Ling Yeung, retired academic, former Head of Chinese Studies, Curtin University of Technology
- Zhong Jinjiang, PhD candidate in Chinese Economics, Cambridge University, President of Chinese Alliance for Democracy
