Anti-China attacks spike in Australia

Despite a campaign by a local Australian government targeted at xenophobia, Chinese observers said the COVID-19 pandemic is fueling racist attacks against Chinese and Asian communities in the country, partly due to the country’s deeprooted racism, which can be seen in a group of anti-China politicians who call themselves “Wolverines.”

A report on Wednesday in Australian news outlet The Australian said the government of New South Wales carried out the Stop Public Threats campaign in response to a spike in racist incidents targeting Asian Australians as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, observers are not optimistic about the success of the campaign, noting that racism is deeply rooted in Australian society.

Australian think tank Per Capita released a survey which shows that 81 percent of the respondents experienced attacks related to the coronavirus, among which 61 percent of the incidents included racist insults and abuse.

Australia has made some efforts to curb the racist attacks but gained little. Observers noted that mainstream society in Australia barely pays attention to discrimination against Chinese and Asian groups, which has also fueled racist incidents.

In Australia, respecting the rights of original residents is “politically correct” while being anti-China is also “politically correct,” observers noted.

In 2019, infamous Australian right-wing politicians Andrew Hastie, James Paterson and Kimberley Kitching formed a bipartisan group called the “Wolverines” to speak out against China.

The group pasted their logo – four wolf claw marks – on office windows around Parliament House.

Australian media, which has decried China’s “wolf warrior diplomacy,” has praised “the Wolverines.”