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SYDNEY: More than a third of Sino-Australians surveyed reported facing discrimination in the past year, in a report released on Wednesday (March 2) pointing to a bitter relationship with Beijing and COVID-19 as driving forces.
Findings from the Australian think tank Lowy Institute suggested that 37 percent of Chinese-Australians felt they had been treated differently or less favorably because of their heritage.
Two-thirds of those surveyed believe the pandemic was a contributing factor and 52 percent cited diplomatic tensions.
Of more than 1,000 Chinese-Australians surveyed, 18 percent reported being physically threatened or assaulted because of their ethnicity in the 12 months through December.
The results echo findings from the United States, where 2,808 cases of hatred against Asians were reported last year, according to the Stop AAPI Hate anti-discrimination campaign.
Video footage of an elderly man being violently pushed to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown made international news amid what the campaign called an “increase” in racially-motivated violence.
Last year, as tensions escalated between Canberra and Beijing, China told its citizens not to travel to Australia, warning of violence and discrimination.
Australian Finance Minister Simon Birmingham rejected the claim at the time.
“I think the idea that Australia, in some way, is an unsafe destination for visitors is one that just doesn’t stand up to scrutiny,” he said.
The Lowy survey also showed that a large majority of Sino-Australian respondents felt a large or moderate sense of belonging to Australia, with the majority saying that they felt their culture was accepted.
The findings come with Canberra-Beijing relations at their worst in decades.
Although China is Australia’s largest trading partner, the two nations repeatedly clashed throughout 2020 over a number of issues, including China’s crackdowns in Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and a lack of transparency about its handling of the pandemic in coronavirus.
Beijing continues to hit several Australian exports with punitive sanctions, while Canberra has thwarted at least two large acquisitions of Chinese companies in the country, citing national security concerns.
The research also said that 67 percent of Sino-Australian respondents would support specific sanctions against “Chinese officials associated with human rights abuses.”
A third described Australian media coverage of China as fair and balanced.
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