Volume 2: Sonder

CW: RACISM, SEXUAL ASSAULT, XENOPHOBIA

When Trump was elected in 2016, the reaction from this side of the world was one of eye-rolling amusement. It seemed all too typical of the United States — home to Hollywood and the cult of celebrity — to elect a reality TV star as their world representative. Of course, after a few months, the serious implications of having someone with such little experience of political diplomacy in a position of immense power became glaringly obvious. Within months, we saw images of children in cages, borders shutting down, and Trump literally erecting a wall on the border between the USA and Mexico.

From the beginning, the value of this wall was far more symbolic than functional. It not only validated the deep insecurities and nationalist sentiments of white America, but gave agency to conservative circles throughout the world. In Trump, we saw a rise of xenophobic ideology and a voice to concerns of foreign interference, all of which had been bubbling before his election.

Fast forward six years. On the other side of the Pacific Ocean, Defence Minister Peter Dutton has accused Anthony Albanese of being a puppet for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during a Question Time in February, solidifying Australia’s hostile post-pandemic attitude towards China.

Though debated, the root of this ill-will can likely be traced back to Tony Abbott’s Free Trade Agreement with China in 2015. Following this deal, we saw the Chinese government purchase the Port of Darwin in 2015, an increase in foreign

Chinese investment on Australian farms, and an explosion of mistrust following the COVID-19 outbreak.

To discuss the current political landscape, we must first understand the history of hostility towards Chinese-Australians in this country.

When gold was discovered in New South Wales and Victoria in the mid-19th century, it coincided perfectly with the economic decline of the Qing Dynasty, triggering a mass migration of Chinese people to Australia. With this migration, a new form of xenophobia, fearful of the “Asian Invasion”. spread through the predominantly white communities of colonial Australia. Media of the day focused on the “Yellow Peril”, a theory that framed the Chinese as a threatening force capable of stealing white women, jobs, and the nation’s wealth.

So feverish were these Yellow Peril anxieties that they became the primary lens through which white Australians

explored the then-popular “invasion

literature” genre. White or Yellow? (1887), a racist future-history novel by William Lane, envisioned the slow invasion of Queensland by Chinese people, eventuating in a race war between white Australia and Chinese immigrants. Similarly, cartoons published in local newspapers often depicted lascivious demonic caricatures of Chinese men infiltrating white Australia. One cartoon, ‘The Mongolian Octopus’ (pictured), was published in The Bulletin Magazine in 1886, portraying Chinese culture as polluting Western societies.

Such racist ideologies inevitably impacted Chinese communities in Australia, with violence towards Chinese immigrants

(and those that looked like them) increasing during the Gold

Rush years.

Predictably, the “invasion literature” genre became a precursor to the White Australia policy of 1901, a racist policy that excluded non-Anglo immigrants from arrival on Australian

shores in an attempt to protect the Federation. This policy would ultimately be abolished in 1973.

With the preexisting backdrop of the Gold Rush and the validation of racially-charged anxiety in the White Australia Policy, it is fair to say that Australia’s fear of Chinese influence has roots that reach far deeper than any trade partnership or pandemic.

In 2016, Trump’s presidential campaign bolstered a mistrust of China that had long been lingering – ultimately snowballing with the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Like many countries, Australia pointed the blame at China for failing to control the spread of the virus. Since the pandemic began, the Coalition has slowly but surely separated itself from its image as the CCP’s prosperous trade partner. It only makes sense that in 2022, both Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison have come out with accusations of Chinese infiltration into the Labor Party – accusations that have since been dismissed by ASIO director Mike Burgess.

Osmond Chiu, a Research Fellow at the Per Capita Think Tank, highlights how conversations about China are prone to isolating Chinese-Australians.

“To even have a conversation about anti-Chinese racism or anti-Asian racism, you almost have to put the caveat that ‘I’m talking about this specifically – I’m not denying that all these terrible things have happened in China,” he says.

“Almost by talking about it you’re seen as giving credence to a propaganda campaign by the People’s Republic of China.”

As Chiu states, it is seemingly difficult for white Australians to separate Chinese-Australian citizens from their political heritage. So, how does the discourse around Chinese interference impact Asian-Australian communities?

“One of the real challenges when discussing this,” says Chiu, “Is that a lot of the focus is on things that are easier to quantify and measure, like if someone has been assaulted or experienced verbal harassment if they’re Chinese/Asian- Australian,”

“It’s much more difficult to quantify the sort of corrosive impact that [the accusations] have. Firstly, in a sense of social cohesion and a sense of belonging within Australian society. The other element is the perception of risk associated with people of Chinese heritage, but also people mistaken to be of Chinese heritage.”

Alongside this social isolation, there is also the risk that the Coalition’s campaign backfires, and they lose the vote of Chinese-Australians.

At the end of the day, the success of the LNP’s fear mongering election tactics are uncertain. While there are undeniably valid concerns surrounding foreign interference, the government’s attacks were somewhat inevitable considering the CCP’s own dictatorial identity and growing economic influence. However one thing is certain. Politicising national security the way the Coalition government has will have detrimental impacts on the safety of Chinese- Australians, ultimately resurfacing the deep wound of our ugly, xenophobic past.